Christmas Memories
by Escachick357
Summary: Christmas is a time for wishes, miracles, and lessons waiting to be learned. And it just so happens that each members of the Straw Hat Pirates each has a memory. These are their stories.
1. Luffy: Looking Deep Inside

Christmas Memories

By: Escachick357

Ch. 1- Luffy: Looking Deep Inside

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece…yet.

A/N: Ah, Christmas, a time for being thankful for everything you got…

Kurama's Girlfriend11 walks in-

Kurama's Girlfriend11: Uhhh…hey, sis…that's Thanksgiving.

Escachick357:…Oh yeah, huh? Well, anyways, this fic is about some of the memories each of the One Piece character may have about a Christmas when they were younger. Hope ya like them.

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Fuschia Village was one of the best places to grow up from childhood to adulthood. It was a serene, quiet, and little town. Friendly, too. Okay, maybe not friendly enough to have a person hug another or pat another on the head everyday, but friendly enough to have one saying a peaceful greeting to one another. None of the children were afraid of anybody in this town…except one.

"Get back here, you little bastard! I swear I'll whoop your ass good if you don't!" A man in his mid-50s yelled while running after a little seven-year-old boy.

"AAAHHH!" the seven-year-old known in the village as Monkey D. Luffy screamed as he ran from the older man.

The townspeople rolled their eyes and stepped out of the way of the yelling man and screaming boy.

Luffy frantically looked around for something to hide in or someone to hide behind, but neither Ace, Shanks, or even the mayor was around so he had to pick the best place to hide…the bar. Surely Makino would hide him from the man chasing after him. He ran inside breathless.

"Hey, Anchor! What's up?" A mostly sober Shanks asked the breathless little boy.

"Hide…me…" Luffy said in between breaths.

"Huh? Why?" Shanks asked.

Without answering, Luffy ran behind the largest of the pirates just half a second before the bar doors slammed open.

"Ah, Himamura-san. Good afternoon." Makino greeted the man originally chasing Luffy.

"Where is he? Where is that bastard? Where is Luffy?" the man screamed.

Makino shrugged her shoulders, "I haven't seen him since this morning. What did he do this time?"

The man's face grew red, "That little bastard was cutting through my cornfield!"

"Your cornfield? Aren't your crops picked and sold?" Makino asked.

The man's face grew even redder, "That's not the point! He cut a bunch of the stalks halfway down and I want him to pay for it!" He threw two cut stalks onto the bar floor.

"I don't know what to say, but maybe you should talk to his parents about it." Makino calmly told him.

The man grunted, picked up the broken stalks, and headed out of the bar. Once assured that the man was gone, Luffy walked out from behind his hiding spot.

"Himamura Mataichi is the meanest man in all of Fuschia Village!" Luffy announced.

"So, why were you in his cornfield?" Makino asked him.

Luffy shrugged, "It was a shortcut home."

"And how did you cut down the cornstalks?" Makino asked.

"Cut? I tripped a few times and he ran after me with a scythe." Luffy told her.

Shanks started to laugh, "Well, he's already at your house. You might as well go home and get your punishment now."

Luffy had a different idea. His parents couldn't punish him…if he wasn't their kid. "Hey Shanks," He asked the red-haired pirate, "Can you adopt me?"

Shanks nearly spit out his ale. Everyone else stared at the little boy. After ten seconds, Shanks gave Luffy a calm smile, "Luffy, I'd adopt you if I lived in Fuschia Village…" he paused for a minute, "But I don't. So…no." Everyone but Luffy laughed hysterically.

"You're so mean!" Luffy screamed over the laughs. Then he followed Shanks' original advice and went home. Fortunately, Mataichi was gone. Unfortunately, his parents knew about him cutting through Mataichi's cornfield.

"Luffy," His father told him the second Luffy entered the house, "Himamura-san was just here."

"He started it, not me!" Luffy announced before anything else was said.

"Why were you in the cornfield?" His mother asked.

"It was a shortcut home." Luffy answered.

"Why were you even by his cornfield?" His mother asked him. The question was left unanswered.

Another question, however, was asked, this time by Luffy, "Do you want me to go back and apologize?"

His parents shook their heads. "We talked to Himamura-san. We think that what you've done in the cornfield was unnecessary, so we've decided that you will work in the field for two hours each day until Himamura-san approves of your work." His mother said.

"What?" Luffy screamed.

"And your brother will take you to Himamura-san's cabin." Luffy's father said.

Ace, who was sitting at a nearby table, nearly choked on the juice he was drinking. "What?" Ace partially screamed, "I'm not going over there. Himamura-san is crazy."

"He is not crazy and you are taking your brother there tomorrow. You don't even have to go up to the door. Just make sure he enters the house." Ace's father told him.

Ace shrugged and continued drinking.

"I'm not going! You can't make me!" Luffy shouted, stomping his foot onto the floor.

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The next day, Luffy found himself standing inside Mataichi's house. He cringed at the smell of the inside. The whole house smelled as if it was covered in medicine. There were only two chairs and two beds in the whole house. Those were the only pieces of furniture in the house aside from the little table that went with the chairs and the little box on a shelf.

Mataichi led Luffy to a very small shed in the backyard, on the cornfield. "You know how to use one of these things?" Mataichi asked, picking up an ax. Luffy nodded and Mataichi placed the sharp item in his small hands.

"I want you to cut down every single cornstalk until they are all the same height. And they had still better be there." Mataichi commanded before walking into his house.

Luffy chopped the stalks for two hours and immediately stopped when he saw Ace walking up to the door to pick him up.

Luffy ran into the house to tell Mataichi that he had finished and saw him holding the tiny box in his hands. "Ummm…I'm done with my two hours. What's in the box?" Luffy asked.

Mataichi hid the box quickly, "None of your business! Now get out of here!"

Luffy didn't need to be told twice. He quickly ran out of the house and into his brother.

"You ready to leave?" Ace asked. Luffy immediately nodded. Ace laughed and led his little brother away from the mostly empty house. Once far away from the house, Luffy announced, "His house stinks! It smells like something's dying…"

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"And he spends a zillion hours staring at a little box that he never opens!" Shanks and his crew laughed at the words coming from the small boy. Makino was the only one, aside from Luffy, not laughing.

"That bad, huh?" Shanks asked.

Luffy nodded, "And I have to go back again tomorrow because I'm not done with the cornfield. I don't see why he cares. It's December and the corn is gone." Makino rolled her eyes.

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Six days passed and Luffy was only half done with the cornfield. The pile of cut cornstalks that lay at the other side of the shed was already twice the height as he was.

Mataichi never even came out to give Luffy a hand with the field. He just spent all day staring at the box and drinking from a teacup.

"When I become a pirate, I'm never going to cut down cornstalks again." Luffy announced one day at the bar. Shanks laughed out loud. "Himamura Mataichi is so mean. He never even gives me any breaks! When I become a pirate, I'm going to take breaks all the time." Luffy announced.

Shanks held back a laugh, "Keep dreaming, kid."

"Luffy, surely you don't think that Himamura-san is all that bad, right?" Makino asked.

Luffy roughly nodded his head, "He is that bad. He won't even cut me some slack since Christmas is going to be in a week."

Makino sighed and shook her head, "Sometimes you have to look deep inside a person to truly know them."

"Not Himamura Mataichi. He's always going to be mean!" Luffy shouted.

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Six more days passed and Luffy had finally finished all his work in the cornfields. He ran into Mataichi's house to announce that he finished in the cornfields, but the man was nowhere in sight. Since Mataichi wasn't around to scream at him, Luffy decided to take a look at the box Mataichi was constantly looking at.

With his Devil Fruit powers, Luffy grabbed the little box off the shelf and opened it up. A little tune played out of the box and laying inside was a little red hair ribbon, a small marble, and a picture of a much younger Mataichi and a little girl. Luffy was paying so much attention to the box that he failed to notice Mataichi standing in the doorway.

"What the Hell are you doing?" Mataichi screamed.

Startled, Luffy dropped the music box. The music instantly stopped, the top busted off, the rest of the box broke apart, and the items were scattered about the room. "I'm sorry, Himamura-san, I…" Luffy started. For the first time in his life, Luffy saw Himamura Mataichi crying.

"Get out! Get out and never come back! You hear me?" Mataichi shouted.

With tears coming from his eyes, Luffy picked up all the parts of the music box and ran from the house. Mataichi didn't follow him. While crying, Luffy ran into the bar.

Makino looked down at Luffy, "Luffy, what's wrong?"

"I…broke the music box…" Luffy sniffed.

Makino put a hand over her mouth, "Oh my God…Aileen's music box."

The tears kept pouring, "He screamed at me to never come back to his house. Why does he have to be so mean?"

Makino let out a sigh, "He's not a mean person."

"Yes he is!" Luffy shouted.

Makino shook her head, "No he's not. He's just upset about Aileen."

"Who's Aileen?" Luffy asked.

Makino let out another sigh, "Years ago, Himamura-san had a little daughter. When I was only six-years-old, Himamura-san and his six-year-old daughter, Aileen moved here to Fuschia Village. They worked on the cornfields and everyday, Aileen played her music box. The box was the only thing that was truly hers and Aileen was the only person Himamura-san had left."

"So, what happened to Aileen?" Luffy asked.

Makino looked sadly at him, "She got really sick and died on Christmas night at the age of eight while listening to the music box." Luffy was silent. "You want to know something, Luffy?" Makino asked him.

"What?" Luffy asked. "Himamura-san is dying from the same disease Aileen had. He's taking medicine to help cure the disease, but it's not working. That's why his house smells strongly of medicine." Makino said to him.

Still crying, he picked up the parts and walked to his home, hoping that at least one person in his family was home, but they weren't, not even Ace. Letting out a heavy sigh, Luffy headed back to the bar.

"Back so soon, Anchor?" Shanks asked, chugging a glass of ale. Luffy took the bar stool next to Shanks and placed the broken music box onto the bar.

Luffy turned to Shanks, "Can you fix it?"

Shanks stared at him and asked, "First you asked me to adopt you and now you want me to fix something for you?"

"Please, can you fix it?" Luffy asked, making a puppy-dog face.

Shanks tried to resist the look, but like all the other adults, fell victim to the face. "I'll see what I can do. When do you need it fixed?" Shanks asked.

"On Christmas." Luffy answered.

"Christmas?" Shanks shouted, "That's tomorrow!"

"So, you can't fix it?" Luffy asked.

Shanks put all the pieces into a little bag, "I'll try."

"Thanks, Shanks." Luffy told him before leaving the bar. The Red Haired Pirates let out a big laugh.

"You're really getting soft, Captain." One of the crewmen laughed.

Shanks laughed even harder, "Shut up."

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Luffy woke up at 7am the next morning by Ace. Luffy was almost practically dragged out of bed and over to the large tree with presants stacked under it. Almost immediately, both boys unwrapped presant after presant, thanking their parents for the presants they were given. In that two hours spent unwrapping presants, Luffy had forgotten about Aileen's broken music box.

After getting dressed, Luffy walked over to Makino's bar, where the Red Hair Pirates were eating a large breakfast feast.

"Hey, Anchor! Merry Christmas!" Shanks shouted. Luffy took a seat next to him.

"I got something for you." Shanks said to the little boy.

"You're letting me join your crew?" Luffy asked, praying that he was correct.

Shanks let out a very deep laugh, "Yeah right. Keep dreaming, kid."

Luffy began to slump into the barstool he sat in, but perked up when Shanks said, "But what the Hell. I won't let you join my crew, but I will let you wander around our ship today."

Luffy shrugged, "Good enough." Shanks pushed a bag into Luffy's arms. Quickly, the young boy opened it up and took out Aileen's music box, all fixed up. He even opened it up and listened to the tune it had played before it broke.

"Thanks, Shanks." Luffy shouted, picking up Aileen's box and walking out the bar doors.

Going back to Mataichi's house was one of the hardest things Luffy ever had to do in his short life. It took Mataichi a while to get to the door and when he got there, a scowl was on his pale face. "What do you want?" Mataichi growled. At first, Luffy wanted to run away screaming, but he told himself that he was a man and men weren't afraid of other men.

Slowly, Luffy held Aileen's box in front of Mataichi.

"I…think this is yours. I'm sorry I broke it and…Merry Christmas." Luffy almost whispered.

Mataichi took the music box out of Luffy's hands and opened the top. The calming tune turned Mataichi's scowl into a soft smile, an expression Luffy had never seen on Mataichi's face before. "Aileen…" Mataichi whispered before looking back at Luffy, "Thank you." Luffy smiled and walked back to his home.

Himamura Mataichi died later that night, on the anniversary of his little daughter's death. He was found sitting in a chair, listening to Aileen's music box with a smile on his face. Nobody even knew that his last words was the "thank you" given to Luffy. Mataichi was buried with the thing that meant the most to him in life: Aileen's music box.

The night Mataichi died, Luffy thought back at what Makino had told him about looking deep inside a person to find out who they truly were. He realized that Mataichi was not the mean person Luffy had thought him to be, but instead just a normal man lonely for his deceased little girl. He remembered being told that Christmas was a time for love and learning lessons. And thanks to Mataichi, he had learned a lesson.

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A/N: First chapter done. I can't remember the names of the pirates on Shanks' crew except for Shanks and Yasopp. I know this was totally OOC, but hey, it's a fanfic.

Next chapter: Zoro.


	2. Zoro: If I Were Never Born

Ch.2- Zoro: If I Were Never Born

Disclaimer: One Piece or its characters aren't mine except for Angel 1189.

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SWING! BLOCK! SWING! PAIN! It was happening again. It was ten-year-old Roronoa Zoro's turn to fight Kuina and as usual, she wasn't giving him any mercy. As soon as the second swing came, both Zoro and Kuina knew that she had beaten him…again. He never won against her. It was like Kuina had cast a curse on him so he could never beat her.

"The winner…Kuina. That makes 512 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced.

All the boys in the dojo groaned. They hated seeing their best friend being beaten by a girl. Of course, none of them had beaten her, either.

"Dammit! I lost again!" Zoro shouted, moving a hand onto his aching face.

Kuina turned and walked away from him. She never tried to help him onto his feet when she knocked him down.

With a nod from his sensei, Zoro walked away from the dojo and to the nearby stream. The cool water felt good splashed onto his hot and sweaty face, but no matter how much water was splashed onto his face, he was still burning with anger on the inside. It seemed as if he would never ever be able to defeat her in a match even if he trained almost constantly. It wouldn't matter. She'd still beat him.

It was now December, just two days before Christmas, actually, and Kuina still wouldn't let him win. Looking down the stream, Zoro saw her hitting her wooden sword against some stakes in the ground. He saw sweat rolling down her face. He let out a groan. He knew that she was planning on beating him the next day.

"Damn her!" Zoro muttered before heading the opposite direction of Kuina, to his own weights so he could train, giving him a chance to win against Kuina. He trained long. He trained hard. He trained until he was fully confident that Kuina would lose to him on their next match the next day. Now, he just had to wait.

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SWING! BLOCK! SWING! PAIN! "The winner…Kuina! That makes 513 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced.

Zoro placed a hand on his aching face, "Dammit! All that training for nothing!" The other boys tried to help Zoro onto his feet, but the green haired boy pushed them away and walked out of the dojo for a little walk to get rid of some of the anger burning inside.

After his walk, Zoro walked back to the dojo and stopped to listen to a conversation going on inside between Sensei and five other adults.

"That Roronoa boy…he still hasn't won." the first adult stated. "No, he hasn't." Sensei agreed.

"I mean, you would have expected him to defeat Kuina by now." the second adult stated.

"But neither have we." the third admitted.

"Sensei, the rest of us have a request to make." the fourth adult said.

"What is it?" Sensei asked.

"We feel as if both of them fight in the same dojo, then this place will look bad." the fourth said.

"What are you saying?" Sensei asked.

"We want you to make either Zoro or Kuina stop fighting here at the dojo…kick one of them out." the fifth demanded. All the other adults agreed.

Sensei stared at them, "I'm not kicking my daughter out."

Before he could say anything else, the first adult shouted, "Then it's out with Roronoa Zoro!"

Zoro didn't want to listen to any more of the conversation. Feeling hurt inside, Zoro ran from the dojo and to the little stream and stared angrily at his reflection in the water. "This sucks! The dojo is going to look bad and it's all because of me! I wish I had never been born! This world would be better without me!" Zoro shouted.

Suddenly, Zoro spotted a young girl a year or two older than him.

"Oh, really?" The girl asked. Zoro jumped and turned towards the girl. Her golden hair was in curls halfway down her back. Her eyes were a very bright green. A long, white gown was covering her body and feet and the angel wings on her back were almost as big as she was.

"Who are you?" Zoro asked the girl.

The girl smiled, "I am Angel 1189."

Zoro laughed, "1189? Hahaha! What a stupid name!"

The girl blushed, "1189 means 'Ari'! My name is Ari!" The girl took a step forward and tripped over her gown. Zoro laughed harder. Ari picked herself up off the ground, "Dammit! I'm getting rid of this stupid outfit!"

Immediately, Ari ripped the curls off her head, the wings off her back, and the gown off her body. With her fingers, she took two lenses off her eyes. Now she looked different. Her blonde hair was now a lavender color, shoulder length, and straight. Her clothes were a pair of blue pants, a baby blue shirt, and a pair of cute black shoes, but the most interesting thing of all was her eyes. Her eyes were blue, but there was a streak of brown in the shape of a lightening bolt going down the middle of each eye.

"So, this is how you really look?" Zoro asked Ari.

Ari nodded and cleared her throat, "Now, you said that you wished you were never born, am I right?" Zoro nodded. Ari smiled, "Well, this is your lucky day. I get to show you what life would be like if you were never born. Any questions? No? Okay, let's go."

"Wait, don't you need the wings to fly?" Zoro asked.

Ari shook her head, "Nah. That whole outfit was just to make me look cute. I have powers to make me fly without wings." Grabbing Zoro's hand, Ari floated up into the sky and came down a second later.

Zoro looked around at where he was, "Why did you take me to my house?"

"This isn't your house. Right now this house belongs to Roronoa Riku and his wife Naoko." Ari answered.

"That's my mom and dad." Zoro told her.

Ari shook her head, "Correction: they _would_ have been your mom and dad if you had been born, but you haven't."

Zoro ignored her and walked into the house. Sitting at a table was a green haired woman. Lying on a nearby couch was a sleeping green haired man.

"Hey, Mom! I'm back!" Zoro said to the woman. The woman did nothing but sip the cup of tea she had in front of her. "Mom!" Zoro shouted. The woman kept drinking.

Zoro turned to Ari, who had walked up to him, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing. This is what your life at home would be like if you were never born." Ari answered.

"Why won't she respond?" Zoro asked.

Ari smacked a hand on her forehead, "Damn! I knew I'd forget to mention something on my first job. Nobody can see, hear, or feel us."

Zoro shook his head, "That's a lie!"

Ari shrugged, "Well then, try shaking your parents."

Zoro nodded, "I will." He placed a hand on his mother's leg, but it went right through. Zoro jumped in surprise and walked over to his sleeping father. He moved a hand to his father's shoulder so he could shake and wake him up. Again, Zoro's hand went right through his father's shoulder.

"Oh, and I should let you know this: your parents have been acting like this for ten years. Now, if they had a child, their lives wouldn't have been so boring. Oh well. Now, let's take a look at the dojo." Ari told him. In a second, Zoro and Ari were at the dojo. There was a list on the wall of the names of the students. The list had very few names on it.

He saw Kuina fighting against an older boy and beating him. She didn't look like she changed except for she didn't look like she had been training very much. Outside of the dojo, he saw the five adults that had the discussion about him and Kuina. This discussion was now just about Kuina.

"I'm dropping out. I can't stand her." one of the adults stated.

Another nodded, "She makes us all look like weaklings. Hell, I get scared just fighting her."

"I know what you mean. Thanks to her, the students have been dropping out quickly. It's just a matter of time before this dojo closes down." A third agreed.

Zoro turned to Ari, "What are they talking about?"

Ari let out a sigh, "You were the only person determined to beating Kuina and weren't afraid to fight her. She used to train a lot because she thought you'd beat her one day and you inspired the other students to try their best. Come on, let's go." Ari grabbed his arm.

"So, that's all I'm going to see?" Zoro asked.

Ari shook her head, "Nope. I'm going to show you parts of the future, but I won't tell you who the people you will see are." In a second, Ari took Zoro to a little town where a dark haired boy in a straw hat was having problems fighting a clown. "Without you around, this battle would have been much easier to win."

With the snap of a finger, Zoro found himself in a quiet little village. The straw hat boy, an orange haired girl, and a long-nosed boy were looking down a hill with oil dripping down the side.

"Wait, I hear something coming from the north." the girl stated.

"No-north?" the long-nosed boy asked.

"What's wrong?" the straw hat boy asked.

"There's another port on the north side of town." the long nosed boy answered sheepishly.

Zoro saw the boys run off and the girl slip down the oil hill. He saw a group of pirates run by the long-nosed boy and into the village. Not too much later, Zoro found the town destroyed, its citizens minus the long-nosed boy killed, and a man in glasses sail away with a large amount of money. "Could I have changed this?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Oh yeah. Now, let's see another."

Ari lifted Zoro into the air and brought him to another small town. The straw hat boy, long-nosed boy, and a man with a curly eyebrow were fighting a group of fish people. They were exhausted. Nearby, the girl was surrounded by a group of dead people. On the girl's lap was the head of a woman with light blue hair. The girl was crying and stroking the woman's hair.

"See, Zoro. If it weren't for you, this village would be okay and everybody would be alive." Ari told him, brushing away a tear, "Now, let's go. This place is making me cry." In a second, Ari brought him to a medium sized town. The girl was being chased by a blue haired woman and a man with blades on his arms and legs. The girl, with her staff, defeated the woman, but when it came to the man, the girl didn't stand a chance. The man quickly sliced and killed the girl.

"Was I supposed to help her?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Without you, this girl would be dead. Now, I'm going to show you one more."

Ari brought Zoro to another medium sized town. Standing on a platform in chains and alone, was a little green haired girl. The green haired girl looked at the crowd walking passed her, some of the people making faces or throwing things at her. Finally, a man took off all her chains, grabbed her bag, and shoved her to a ship full of grown men, criminals. The second she got in there, the men advanced on the girl. The little girl screamed for help, but none came.

"I could have helped this girl?" Zoro asked.

Ari nodded, "Yeah, without you this slave girl is forced to live a life I don't even want to think about.

"Is that everything that's going to change?" Zoro asked.

Ari roughly shook her head, "No, there's more. I'm just not going to show you everything." In a second, Ari brought him back to the stream.

"Hey, Ari?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah?" Ari answered.

"Are you my Guardian Angel?" Zoro asked.

"Sort of." Ari answered.

"What do you mean 'sort of'?" Zoro asked.

"Okay, the thing is that there are five of us competing to be your Guardian Angel. The five of us had to draw lots to decide who will help you see what life would be like if you were never born and I won." Ari explained.

"Wow." Zoro gasped.

"Oh, and I want to give you something." Ari told him.

Zoro nodded, "Okay, what is it?"

Ari stuck a finger to the side of Zoro's head. Zoro felt a surge of energy enter his brain and all the memories or his future and what Ari said about Guardian Angels was gone. All he could remember from her lesson was his present.

"Now, Zoro. Do you remember what I told you?" Ari asked him. Zoro thought for a moment and nodded.

"You aren't entirely sure, am I right?" Ari asked.

Zoro nodded, "I have to be born."

Ari looked at him, "Why?" Zoro didn't say anything. "Life would suck if you were never born." Ari answered. Zoro nodded. "I have to go now. My job here is done." Ari said, "Remember, you have made a difference already and still can, so live as long as you can." Ari told him as she floated up towards the sky.

"Good-bye, Angel 1189—I mean, Ari!" Zoro called, waving to Ari before she disappeared.

"Zoro? What are you doing over here?" A voice from behind him asked. Zoro turned and came face-to-face with Kuina.

"Nothing." Zoro told her.

Kuina shrugged, "Father asked me to bring you back to the dojo." Zoro paused, but eventually nodded and followed her back to the dojo. Standing in the dojo was Sensei and the five adults wanting to kick Zoro out.

"Sensei! Please don't kick me out of this dojo." Zoro pleaded.

Sensei looked confused, "Kick you out?"

"Yeah, I heard your conversation. You guys," he pointed at the five adults, "wanted to kick either me or Kuina out."

"WHAT?" Kuina cried out.

"And Sensei refused to kick Kuina out, so they decided that I was going to be kicked out."

Sensei shook his head, "You didn't listen to the rest of the conversation. I refuse to kick out any of my best students."

Kuina turned to the five adults, "How could you even think about kicking one of us out?"

"Yeah." Zoro agreed.

"We challenge all of you right now!" Zoro and Kuina shouted, holding up their wooden swords.

The adults laughed, but agreed. The match lasted eleven seconds with the victors being Kuina and Zoro. The victors gave each other a congratulation while Sensei gave out a laugh.

When Sensei stopped laughing, he told Zoro the real reason for having him come into the dojo just a minute ago. Sensei wanted to congratulate Zoro on all the hard work he had been doing since he joined the dojo. Also, Sensei wanted Zoro and Kuina to have a little match the next day to show the students how skill they could get with determination and training. Zoro and Kuina agreed.

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Christmas was the next day and so was the match between Zoro and Kuina. Zoro hoped that he would win against Kuina, but… "The winner…Kuina. That makes 514 for Kuina, 0 for Zoro." Sensei announced. Today, Zoro didn't pout or swear and Kuina helped Zoro up onto his feet. All the students clapped and cheered for both of them.

Later that day, Zoro stood by the little stream when he noticed a purple stone on the floor, under the water. He stuck his hand under the water and pulled out the stone: an Amethyst.

"Zoro." A voice from behind him called.

Zoro turned around and saw Kuina. She placed some weights in his arms, "Merry Christmas." With a smile, Zoro placed the Amethyst into Kuina's hands, "Merry Christmas."

Zoro never forgot Ari's visit or the lesson he was taught by her that he was allowed to remember. In those two days, he learned two lessons. He learned that even one of his biggest rivals could help him train. But the most important thing he learned was that he kicked ass and the world would suck if he was never born.

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A/N: There's the end of Chapter 2. Okay, when I was talking about Zoro's future how it could be changed, I really just made those up. I also made up the names of Zoro's parents. 1189 or Ari is also my own character. She originally came from a story I wrote for Science Fiction (which I got an A on and a note from my teacher to make another chapter of it) about a seven-year-old girl experiment given the name "1189" or "Ari". And, when I was talking about the little slave girl, you'd have to read my story, _The Melody of the Seas_ to understand who she was and why the girl was going on the ship.

Also, I just now realized that in the last two chapters, I added something that happened in my actual life. In the first chapter, when Luffy stopped working immediately, that's what I used to do when I used to play the piano; I hated practicing and right when the 30 minute timer went off, I stopped playing even if I was in the middle of a song. In this chapter, when Zoro took a walk to get rid of some of the anger; that's what I do when I get mad at my sister. R/R if ya want, but don't flame me if you hate it.

Next chapter: Nami


	3. Nami: Wish Upon a Christmas Star

Ch.3-Nami: Wish Upon a Christmas Star

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any of its characters…not now, anyways.

A/N: Okay, I actually had this chapter written two days and ago and was going to type it that same day, but I soldered through my thumbnail two days ago during my Electronics class and my thumb was in a lot of pain and I wasn't able to type. But, since my thumb is better, I updated. Word of Advice: If you ever do soldering, make sure you are REALLY careful because if you burn yourself with a soldering pen like I did, it really hurts. Okay, now on with the story…

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A cold breeze flew through the small village of Cocoyashi. The breeze kept flying until it hit an eight-year-old orange haired girl on an orange farm. The girl, known in the village as Nami, shivered.

"Are you cold, Nami?" Belmeil asked her youngest daughter. Nami nodded, rubbing her arms.

"Do you think we're going to get any snow, Belmeil-san?" Nojiko asked.

Belmeil shrugged, "Maybe."

"I hope it does." Nojiko announced.

"Me too." Nami agreed.

Nojiko could vaguely remember seeing snow before she left for Cocoyashi. She remembered the cold, white stuff that covered the ground on cold winter days, but Nami had never seen it. She was hardly a year old when she left for Cocoyashi and it never snowed in Cocoyashi. Of course, nobody seemed to mind there being no snow.

"Come on, girls. It's getting dark. Let's go inside." Belmeil said to her little daughters, leading them into the house. The young woman went to the stove while the little girls looked out the window in the living room. The cold December breeze was blowing against the orange trees on the farm.

Both girls started to giggle when they saw the branches bounce up and down as if they were trying to shake off all the oranges.

A sweet aroma filled the house quickly, making the girls lost in their own happy little worlds.

"Nami! Nojiko! Dinner!" Belmeil called from the kitchen. Both girls left their own little worlds and re-entered reality. They followed the voice into the kitchen and happily sat in their own seats and began to eat the food placed in front of them.

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"Hey, Nojiko?" Nami asked, walking to her sister's bed.

Nojiko turned her head and looked at the face of her little sister, "What?"

"What's snow?" Nami asked.

Nojiko sighed and sat up, "They are millions of cold, white flakes that go together and fall onto the ground. If there is enough of it, you can play with it."

Nami's eyes widened, "Really? Then how come so many people hate it?"

The answer didn't come from Nojiko, but from Belmeil, who was standing in the doorway of the girls' room, "Because the snow kills the plants being grown on farms and in gardens."

"Oh." Nami gasped.

Belmeil smirked, "Now, go to bed. We girls got work tomorrow."

"Hai, Belmeil-san." Nojiko and Nami answered.

Nami scampered off to her bed and jumped into her own. "Good night, Belmeil-san." Both girls chorused. Belmeil smiled and closed the bedroom door.

"Is snow pure white?" Nami asked her sister.

Nojiko shrugged, "Last time I saw it, the snow was sparkling."

"Wow…I wanna see it." Nami gasped.

"Then you better hope we get snow here for once." Nojiko answered.

Nami smiled and closed her eyes, awaiting the sleep that soon overcame her.

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Nojiko and Nami woke up early the next day to work against the cold on the little orange farm. The weather was colder than it was yesterday, so cold that the girls had to be covered with heavy coats covering half their bodies when they went outside. The wind was blowing against their small faces and into their eyes, but they didn't stop working.

When their work was finished, the girls walked into town to attempt to do some stealing without getting caught…and to do some window shopping of some of some of the gifts being sold that they knew they couldn't have. Everything both girls saw was heavily guarded, so it'd be impossible for them to steal the items without getting caught.

A few of the towns children were playing on the streets and laughing at the two girls and they could see why. All the kids had new clothes while Nojiko and Nami had old, worn clothes that were dreadfully out of style. Blinking away the tears stinging their eyes, both girls continued on with their business.

In all the windows in the town were pots and pots of Poinsettias and Holly. Cardboard figures of angels, snowflakes, Santas, and Christmas trees were taped on all the windows. Lights were surrounding the sides of the houses and the roofs. Everybody in the town was walking out of the shops, whispering and giggling to their friends and neighbors.

"Wow…look at that one!" Nojiko gasped, pointing at a beautiful red sequin dress sitting in the window of the dressmaker's shop.

"Kirei…" Nami agreed, her eyes glued on the dress, "I'm going to wear one of those dresses someday."

"Me too." Nojiko agreed. A loud laugh came from behind them. Nojiko and Nami turned around.

Standing behind them was their biggest enemies: two townschildren named Hiroki and Yoko. Nojiko and Nami had many reasons for hating Hiroki and Yoko, but the main reason was that Hiroki and Yoko were the children of some of the richest people in Cocoyashi and teased both Nami and Nojiko because they were poor.

"You two? Wearing dresses like those? Yeah right." Yoko laughed.

"Yeah, you two are so poor that you can't even afford to buy new clothes that _aren't_ in style." Hiroki added.

Nami had the urge to rush at them with her fists, knowing that both Hiroki and Yoko's bark was worse than their bites and that Nami could take them down easily. Before she could move any closer to Hiroki and Yoko, Nojiko pulled her back.

"Come on. Let's go, Nami. Don't waste your time on them." Nojiko whispered painfully to her sister.

Nami nodded and left with Nojiko back to their house. As they walked, Hiroki and Yoko screamed out insults that sent pain through the sisters' hearts. Once the sisters were gone, Hiroki and Yoko broke into a heavy laughing fit. Their laughing soon stopped and the two of them left. Standing in the shadows unseen by Hiroki, Nojiko, Nami, and Yoko, was Genzo with a huge scowl on his face.

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Nojiko and Nami slowly made it back to the orange farm. Nojiko went into the house to be alone in her room. Nami hid herself in between the orange trees and stared out into the ocean. She couldn't understand why Hiroki and Yoko could make fun of her on Christmas Eve of all days. She was told that Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the days in December where everybody was nice to each other, both the rich and poor.

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Belmeil had stopped cutting the vegetables she had been cutting up for dinner when she saw an upset Nojiko walk to her room without saying anything. She opened the door and sat on the bed the sullen Nojiko was sitting on.

"Are you okay?" Belmeil asked her eldest daughter, placing a hand on Nojiko's shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess." Nojiko shrugged.

"So, what happened?" Belmeil asked.

"Some of the townschildren were making fun of me and Nami while we were walking around. They said that we would never be able to afford new clothes and that we'd always be poor. They also called us names that I don't understand." Nojiko answered.

"What did they call you?" Belmeil asked.

Nojiko whispered the names that Hiroki and Yoko called them into Belmeil's ear.

The woman's face paled and her eyes widened. "They called you girls that?" Belmeil asked, hoping that Nojiko was only joking. Nojiko nodded. Belmeil grunted, "And their parents said that I have a bad mouth." She then stopped grunting and started coaxing, "It's okay. Just forget about what they said. Those two will get what's coming to them. By the way, where's your sister?"

Nojiko shrugged, "I don't know. Probably by the ocean." Belmeil nodded and left the room to find Nami. Nojiko followed her. Nami was still sitting in the trees and staring into the ocean when Belmeil walked up behind her.

"I'm sorry, Nami. I'm sorry they treated you that way." Belmeil coaxed her youngest daughter.

"Why are all the other kids so mean to us, Belmeil-san?" Nami asked, holding back the tears that stung her eyes.

"I don't know. But just forget about what they said. You know they're going to get what's coming to them sooner or later." Belmeil told Nami.

Nami nodded. "And it's getting dark. Let's go inside." Belmeil added.

"Wait. Belmeil-san, look! A wishing star!" Nojiko shouted, pointing up at the sky.

Belmeil let out a laugh, "That's a Christmas Star. You better wish on it before it goes away."

Nojiko and Nami looked up at the sky and chanted in unison:

"Star light, star bright.  
First star I see tonight.  
I wish I may,  
I wish I might  
Have the wish I wish tonight."

Both girls closed their eyes and made their wishes: Nami's for snow and Nojiko's for a better presant than Hiroki and Yoko. When they finished their wishes, they followed Belmeil into the house. The rest of the evening went peacefully.

"Hey, Nojiko?" Nami asked from her bed.

"Yeah?" Her sister asked from under her blanket.

"Do you think our wishes will come true?" Nami asked.

Nojiko shrugged, "Maybe. We'll just have to wait and see."

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Nojiko and Nami woke up at 6am the next morning when the cold wind slammed the shutters to the house open and closed. Nami walked from her bed to the bedroom window then to her sister's bed.

"Nojiko! Look!" Nami softly cried, dragging her sister to the window. Nojiko's eyes widened. Tons of little white flakes were falling from the sky and onto the ground. It was snowing.

Quickly, the girls ran to Belmeil's room and shook their sleeping mother. "Belmeil-san…Belmeil-san…" the girls whispered.

Belmeil stirred and opened her eyes, "What's wrong?"

"It's snowing." The girls cried.

"What?" Belmeil asked, sitting up in her bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Nojiko and Nami grabbed her arms and drug her to her bedroom window. The woman stared in shock, "Well, I'll be damned."

Before she could say anything else, her daughters ran back to their room, slipped on a coat and boots, and ran outside to the falling snow. By the time they went out, there was half an inch of snow stuck to the ground.

"Kirei…" Nami gasped at the snow all around her. The snow stuck to the ground was sparkling like diamonds. She'd never seen anything so beautiful.

Both girls started dancing in the falling flakes and started laughing. Belmeil stood in the doorway of the house, watching her daughters with a cigarette in her mouth and a smile on her face. A look of annoyance was hidden in her eyes for she knew that the orange trees were suffering from the cold, but she refused to let Nojiko and Nami see it.

The snow stopped two hours later, leaving a six inch blanket on the ground around the orange farm. And, to Nami's delight, the ground was sparkling like diamonds. Her wish was granted, now she just had to see if Nojiko's wish, whatever it was, would come true. She suddenly heard heavy footsteps walking up to the farm. Then the footsteps stopped and a soft gasp came.

Genzo was standing at the entrance to the farm, staring wide-eyed at what he saw. The sky was lightly colored blue, purple, pink, and red. He'd never seen anything like what he was seeing now. He was especially surprised when he saw the sky colors reflecting onto the house, the orange trees, and the snow on the ground.

From the town, the colored sky was only partially visible and nothing from the sky was being reflected onto the shops and the snow. But here on the orange farm…it was like magic. His staring ended after a snowball hit him right in the face. He wiped the snow off his face and looked at the one that threw the snowball at him, "Nami!"

Nami smiled, "Ohayo, Gen-san. Um, Merry Christmas." Genzo looked down at her. Nami gave him a look that replaced his look of annoyance with a look of joy. He let out a deep laugh soon followed by the laughter of Nojiko and Belmeil. Nami joined them.

"I never thought I'd live to see snow in Cocoyashi." Genzo told Belmeil as he watched Nojiko and Nami play in the snow. Belmeil gave him a calm nod.

Genzo stayed at the orange farm for a few more minutes before he left for the town. He told a few of the townspeople about the colored orange farm, knowing that Hiroki and Yoko were amongst the townspeople. They listened to what he said, but they refused to believe it. They didn't want to.

Hiroki and Yoko walked to the outskirts of Cocoyashi with one toy they each got for Christmas, hoping to make Nojiko and Nami jealous. When they got to the orange farm, both Hiroki and Yoko paused. The sky looked even more beautiful than it did in town. The colors reflected on the happy Nojiko and Nami, making their clothes look brand new and of the newest fashion.

The little toys Hiroki and Yoko got seemed like nothing compared to what Nojiko and Nami, both poor little girls, got. Hiroki and Yoko hung their heads and walked away from the farm, sulking in defeat. Once the two left, Nojiko and Nami looked at each other.

"My wish came true!" Both girls shouted at each other.

"What did you wish for?" Nojiko asked her sister.

"Snow." Nami answered, "What about you?"

"For us to get a better presant than Hiroki and Yoko." Nojiko answered. Both girls giggled. Belmeil smiled and called them into the house for a nice breakfast of orange pancakes.

Once the girls finished their pancakes, Belmeil left the room and came back holding two wrapped packages. Placing both packages in the girls' arms, the woman said, "Merry Christmas, girls."

Nojiko and Nami opened their packages and stared in disbelief at what they saw: Christmas presants, a navigation book for Nami and a cute new orange-smelling headband for Nojiko.

Quickly, the two sisters threw themselves into their mother's arms and showered her with hugs, "thank you"s, and "Merry Christmas"s. Through the windows of the small house, they could see the multi-colored sky pouring into the kitchen, as if saying that this Christmas, this one magical time of the year, was made only for them.

Nami had learned two lessons on that Christmas when she was just eight-years-old. She learned not only that even the poorest people in the world can have the best Christmas, but also that wishes can come true if you wish hard enough or if you wish upon a Christmas star.

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A/N: Okay, that's my newest chapter. I don't exactly know when Nami got into navigation, so I just said that she did when she was eight. Also, I'm not sure if it ever snows in Cocoyashi, so I just said that it didn't. R/R if ya want, but don't flame me please.

Next chapter: Usopp


	4. Usopp: The Story From Within the Cave

Ch.4- Usopp: The Story From Within the Cave

Disclaimer-I don't own One Piece. Sorry.

A/N: Okay, there will be a story told by Usopp in this chapter so when you see paragraphs in italics, that's the story being told.

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"Pirates! Pirates are coming!" seven-year-old Usopp screamed while running throughout Syrup Village.

A few of the townspeople quickly grabbed skillets and brooms and ran outside to beat the pirates the little boy was screaming about. Of course, they should have known that the boy was lying the entire time. He'd been lying about pirates since his father left.

"I was kidding!" the boy laughed, running away from the angry villagers and flying skillets. The villagers were pissed, but they couldn't do anything about him. They tried going to his mother, but she couldn't do anything about him. She knew that her child was still coping with his father leaving so suddenly.

His mother also felt sorry for him because he didn't have any friends at all in the village. All the village children grew either bored or afraid of his lies and refused to be around him. So maybe he wasn't just upset about his father, but also because none of the children liked him. Nobody knew.

"Pirates are coming!" Usopp yelled, running into a snow covered field where five children were playing.

"Oh, there's always pirates coming, ya big liar!" A ten-year-old boy named Vincent told him, throwing a snowball at one of the younger kids. The snowball hit its target: Four-year-old Saki, who was trying to make a snowman.

"Yeah, come on. Make up a new lie or something." Nine-year-old Ali told the little liar.

Five-year-old Shiro and six-year-old Rin placed the middle part of their snowman on the bottom part.

"The pirates are going to knock down your snowman." Usopp told the little boy and girl.

"They will not!" Shiro shouted.

"Yeah, there _are_ no pirates and if there were, they wouldn't knock down a snowman." Rin added.

Usopp tried convincing the five children that pirates were coming, but none of them bought it. The boy walked home sulking.

Usopp came back to the fields five hours later and sure enough, Vincent, Ali, Rin, Shiro, and Saki were still playing. Shiro and Rin's snowman was completed, so was Saki's although it was a little lumpy and deformed. Now the five of them were having a snowball fight: the boys against the girls.

"What's the matter? Did the pirates come back?" Vincent asked, throwing a snowball at Ali.

She dodged it easily and threw one back at Vincent. Usopp's face got red.

"That's not funny!" Usopp screamed. The group ignored him.

"Come on, guys. Let's go home. We've been out here a long time." Vincent announced.

"But which way brings us to town?" Shiro asked.

"What!" Vincent shouted, looking around, "No way…"

In the few minutes since Usopp approached the field, a heavy snowstorm came. The storm was so heavy that it was impossible to see anything around them but themselves.

Saki gripped Vincent's hand, "I'm scared."

"It's okay." Vincent coaxed the little girl, "We'll get out of this storm."

"I think I see something ahead." Ali said, pointing ahead of her.

"Then, let's go." Vincent shouted, putting Saki on his back.

Ali led Vincent, Saki, Shiro, and Rin in the direction she pointed at. Usopp followed them. The six of them did not make it into town, but an empty cave instead. A campfire pit was set up and there were sticks and twigs at the other sides of the cave.

With relief taking over their bodies, the six children ran into the cave (actually, only five ran. Saki was still on Vincent's back).

Vincent placed Saki onto a nearby rock and grabbed some of the sticks and tossed them into the pit. With the help of Usopp, the sticks were lit and a large fire lit up the cave. The group of six gathered around the fire.

"How long are we going to stay here?" Shiro asked Vincent.

Vincent shrugged, "I don't know. Until the storm lets up…a few hours maybe." Saki, Shiro, and Rin slumped.

"So, what are we going to do?" Saki asked the group. Nobody said anything. Nobody even looked at her. All their attention was on either the fire or the snowstorm outside.

"I'm scared. I wanna go home." Saki started to cry.

"I'm scared, too…" Shiro and Rin cried.

"I'm not scared. I've been through worse when I landed on that cannibal island when I was four." Usopp announced. Nobody was impressed.

"We don't need any of your stories, Usopp." Ali sighed, placing a hand onto her forehead.

The group of six sat around the fire for an hour or so before Vincent left for the entrance of the cave. The snowstorm had stopped, but now there was a bigger problem. There was so much snow that not one of the kids would be able to walk to the town. He sat down by the fire.

Ali looked at him, "Did the storm stop?"

Vincent nodded, "Yeah, but we're trapped here."

"Trapped?" Rin asked fearfully. Vincent nodded.

"For how long?" Shiro asked.

"We'll have to wait until one of the adults comes and helps us." Vincent answered, "And that might take days or even weeks…"

"Days? But tomorrow's Christmas!" Saki cried, her eyes full of tears.

"I know, but we can't do anything about it. Sorry, Saki." Vincent told the little girl. Ali tossed more sticks into the fire, lighting up the cave.

Hours passed and Saki was still crying. Shiro and Rin were shivering, not from the cold, but from the fear that they'd never be found alive. Ali and Vincent were trying to calm down Saki, Shiro, and Rin, but were unsuccessful. Usopp was afraid also, but didn't want to admit it and now realized that it was a great time for one of his stories.

"Hey Saki, Shiro, Rin?" Usopp asked the younger children.

"What?" the smallest kids looked at him.

"Do you three want to hear a story?" He asked.

"Don't bother. It's going to be another lie." Vincent said from his spot. Ali agreed.

"I wanna hear one even if it is a lie." Saki announced, moving towards Usopp. Shiro and Rin followed her.

"If you tell us a lie, can you make it a new one?" Shiro asked the older boy.

Usopp nodded, "Okay." He thought for a moment before starting his story:

_There was once a little town on an island in a large world. In that small town lived a small group of people. Amongst those people lived a warrior, a tomboy, a princess, an adventurer, a pirate, and a pixie. The warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie were great friends even though the warrior, who was the oldest of the six, was much older than the pixie, who was the youngest…_

Saki smiled while Vincent smirked. They knew that those characters was actually the people in the cave: Vincent acted like a warrior, Ali was a tomboy, Rin acted like a little princess, Shiro was a true adventurer, Usopp wanted to be a pirate, and some of the townspeople called Saki a pixie because she was so small and playful.

_Unfortunately, the warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie didn't like the pirate very much because they didn't like listening to the tales of his pirating adventures that he told. The pirate didn't mind, though. As long as he told the stories even if he did stretch the truth of some of his stories sometimes, he was happy._

"Now that's an understatement." Vincent grunted.

"Shhh…" Rin shushed him, "I wanna hear the story.

_One winter afternoon the warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie were making friends out of the snow that had fallen the night before. As they worked, the pirate ran up with something important to tell them, but nobody listened to him or cared. He told the princess an adventurer that the enemies that were going to attack the village would kill their snowfriend, but they didn't believe him. The pirate walked off sulking._

_Hours later, the pirate went back to the others to warn them that the enemies were at the village. The others had finished making their friends and started having a snowball war against each other: the princess, pixie, and tomboy against the warrior and adventurer. The pirate was going to tell them about the enemies when a deadly snowstorm came._

_The group of six wanted to get home and assure their families that they were okay, but the storm completely blocked the town and everything else around them except for themselves from their view. The snow was starting to pile up so fast and the sky was getting darker. The group wasn't sure how long they'd be able to last outside._

_Finally, the tomboy noticed something ahead. The warrior held the little pixie and started following the tomboy in the direction in front of her. The pirate, princess, and adventurer followed them. As they walked, a large white monster the group all knew as "Bigfoot" appeared, ready to attack._

Saki, Shiro, and Rin each gave out a fearful gasp. Ali and Vincent didn't tell him to stop, so he continued:

_The warrior knew that he would be able to take out the monster easily, but not with the pixie on his back. But he also didn't want to put her down into the snow. The snow was up to her chin and she'd freeze if she sank. The warrior handed the pixie to the tomboy and headed towards the monster and beat it up._

Usopp stopped for a minute and looked around the cave. Both Ali and Vincent were out: deeply sleeping, leaning against the cave walls by the warm fire.

"So, what happened next?" Rin asked the liar.

"Yeah, come on. Tell us." Shiro said softly, not waking Ali and Vincent.

"Please…" Saki begged. Usopp nodded.

_The monster was not killed, but knocked unconscious by the warrior. The warrior took the pixie back and continued walking. The warrior led the group to an abandoned cave, which is what the tomboy saw. The six ran inside the cave quickly. The warrior put the pixie down on a nearby rock and, with the help of the tomboy, pirate, and adventurer, made a warm fire._

_The snowstorm went on for hours, but never once blew out the fire. The warrior went to the entrance of the cave to check and see if the storm was still going. The storm had stopped, but there was so much snow on the ground that not even the warrior would be able to walk through it._

_The warrior walked back to the fire and told the others about the snow, how it may be days or even weeks before they would be able to get away from the cave. The pixie, princess, and adventurer almost started to cry. The next day would be Christmas Day and their families had no idea where they were._

_Hours passed and the group started to grow homesick, cold, and hungry. They weren't at their homes, there weren't any warm blankets for anybody, and there wasn't any food in the cave. They all thought they were going to die until an elderly man stood in front of them._

_"What's the matter, little ones?" the man asked. _

"_We're cold." The tomboy shivered. _

"_And hungry." The adventurer added. _

"_And trapped." The warrior concluded. _

_The elderly man nodded and snapped his fingers. The fire was relit, blankets covered their bodies, and food was on their laps. "Do not worry. There is always a way out." The man said before disappearing._

_The warrior, tomboy, pirate, princess, adventurer, and pixie were shocked, but eventually shook off the shock and started eating the foods they were given. They finished their foods and all huddled around the fire. With a deep sigh, all six of them fell asleep_.

Usopp looked at Rin, Saki, and Shiro. All three of them fell asleep before he even finished talking about the old man. Usopp waited for a few minutes to see if one of them would ask him what happened next, but they didn't. Usopp smiled, leaned against a cave wall, and, like everybody else, fell asleep before his story was done.

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Usopp woke up hours later at about 6:30am to Saki shaking his body. Saki, Shiro, Ali, Rin, and Vincent were awake. "What's wrong?" Usopp asked the youngest girl.

"What happened after the old man gave them the food?" Saki asked.

"Yeah, did the people escape from the cave." Shiro asked.

Usopp smiled at them and finished his story:

_The next morning the warrior, tomboy, pirate, princess, and pixie woke up. A sound was heard from outside the cave. The snow was quickly pulled away from the cave and standing right in the cave entrance was the families of the six. Before the group ran to their families, they looked at their bodies. All the blankets were gone, but they shook off the thought and ran to their families, who had been looking for them since the storm ended. The End._

"I liked that story." Rin said out loud.

Vincent agreed, "Yeah. It's nice to hear something coming out of Usopp's mouth besides lies."

"I don't always lie!" Usopp shouted.

"Well, you almost always do." Ali told him.

"Do you think someone's going to save us?" Shiro asked.

Vincent shrugged, "Probably not. But anyways…Merry Christmas, everyone."

"Merry Christmas." Everyone said back.

Suddenly, like in Usopp's story, the snow was pulled away from the entrance of the cave.

"Is somebody in here?" A deep, male voice called.

Quickly, the group of six ran towards the entrance of the cave. Standing right there was the mayor of Syrup Village and a few other men including both Ali and Vincent's fathers.

"You've been in this cave all night?" the mayor asked the six kids. They all nodded.

The snow was still too thick for little Saki to walk through so she got a free ride to town. A trail was made into town and some of the snow was melted. Also, the town was just a six minute walk from the cave.

Before all the kids left for their house, Saki, Shiro, and Rin said to Usopp, "Don't ever stop telling your stories." Usopp nodded and walked into his house and dove into his mother's arms.

Usopp remembered the story he had told Saki, Shiro, Rin, Ali, and Vincent the day he was trapped in the cave with them. And it seemed as if somebody would want to actually listen to him when he stretched the truth for the story and because of what Saki, Shiro, and Rin told him, he had an even bigger belief that his father would come back and he learned not to ever stop lying.

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A/N: Well, that's chapter 4. I don't exactly know how old Usopp was when his father left or when his mother died, so I just made something up. R/R if you want, but please no flaming.

Next chapter: Sanji


	5. Sanji: Lessons of Family

Ch.5- Sanji: Lessons of Family

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, but when I become rich I will.

- - - - -

It was once said that it was glamorous being a cook. Being a cook meant getting great compliments, having others to talk and laugh with, and being able to make friends with the other cooks.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case for ten-year-old Sanji, who worked on the Baratie. He didn't mind having to do the dishes or cook in the kitchen, but one thing he didn't like was not having a friend around his age on the Baratie.

Sanji loved cooking and was especially grateful that the head chef of the Baratie had let him stay on the ship after both him and Sanji survived those many days on the deserted island with little food and Zeff lost his leg, but he didn't have a single friend his age. All the other cooks were adults in their mid-20s to late 30s and usually spoke of things that Sanji didn't understand.

In fact, the only cook that was even close to his age was eighteen-year-old Sasuke. Sasuke was the only cook that would be able to talk about topics that Sanji could understand and made jokes with the little boy. But he quit Baratie almost two months ago so he could move back to Orange Village and help take care of his younger siblings after his parents died. Sanji hadn't even heard from Sasuke after he left.

Zeff said it was better that way. He said that getting your hopes about hearing from somebody that left was pointless.

Sanji didn't really have any choice but to obey the man that saved his life, so he lost all hopes in hearing from Sasuke and used all his hops in to his dreams of finding the All Blue. It was the only thing he really could do especially since it was December, the month where wishes come true.

Although he did wish to find the All Blue, he also had another wish. He wished there was another cook, a _female_ cook, that would keep him company at breaks and tell him stories at night unlike all the other male cooks who immediately fell asleep the second their heads met their pillows.

The Orbit had a female cook named Mikoto, who did all those, but she was either dead or missing. Sanji didn't know which.

Sanji didn't want to admit it, but he missed Mikoto even more than he missed Sasuke. Mikoto was like a second mother to him after his true mother died. Sanji could only vaguely remember his parents since they were both killed when he was only five-years-old. He remembered his father being a cook and teaching his son to cook since he was four-years-old.

Sanji remembered being picked up by the Orbit only days after his parents died. He remembered all those years of being on the Orbit with Mikoto telling him stories or singing to him and keeping him company during breaks. To Sanji, Mikoto and the other cooks on the Orbit was his family, but on the Baratie…the cooks were strangers.

Of course, to all the other cooks, Sanji was the stranger. He was just a little boy who didn't talk very much and didn't try to enter the conversations that they started. But, they also had to realize that he was only a child and might not know how to enter their conversations. They also knew that Sasuke was the only one that could talk to him, but that was only because his younger siblings were around Sanji's age.

Zeff didn't want to admit it, but he really felt sorry for Sanji. Although his dreams for finding the All Blue were sky-high, he also had dreams for being with the people he called his family, and his entire family was either dead or sailing the wide and open sea with someone else. It was also the time of the year for one to be with his or her family, so his second dream was going to be crushed.

It also didn't help when the customers that came to the Baratie were talking constantly about the upcoming holiday. The pirates were sitting at the tables chugging their alcohol down and talking loudly about being together and drinking a lot. Some of the Marines that came brought a few of their families along with them, some being with children around Sanji's age or possibly younger.

It really pained Sanji when he heard the kids talking about all the toys, food, and parties they were going to have on Christmas. When he was on the Orbit, the other cooks closed the restaurant for the day and had their own little celebration. But the Orbit was gone and the Baratie was different.

This new restaurant looked like it did everyday. There were no decorations, no unusually happy waiters, and no music being played in the background to cheer up the customers.

The Orbit had all those when the time came, but not the Baratie. Everything was so…different than it was on the Orbit and he just had to learn to live with it.

- - - - - -

Sanji dunked a dish covered with gravy stains, grease, and melted butter into the sink full of the hot soapy water. It was his turn to do the dishes, which also meant that he had to go to the customers' tables, pick up their dirty plates, and bring them back to the kitchen to be washed. It also gave him the chance to listen to people's conversations about Christmas, which he definitely did _not_ want to do.

Once all the plates, cups, and silverware around the sink was completely washed and dried, Sanji had to walk to the occupied tables and take the dirty dishes to the kitchen. Fortunately for him, there were only a few a few customers, so there were fewer dishes to pick up and fewer conversations to listen to.

Most of the tables that had customers sitting in them were pirates with not many empty plates. There was one table that Sanji didn't like going to. The table had a family of Marines: a man, woman, and two boys around Sanji's age or possibly even a year younger.

The man and woman were talking amongst themselves while one of the boys spoke to his brother. The brother wasn't talking. The talking brother was talking non-stop about Christmas and all of the presants both him and his brother believed they were going to get. The talking brother smirked at Sanji as the young cook carried the dirty plates to the kitchen.

When Sanji finally got to the kitchen, he was feeling completely lonely. That talking Marine's son brought back all the saddened memories of him not being able to have a celebration or presants on Christmas. But, although the realization was extremely painful, the small boy refused to cry. He knew he was much too old to be doing that.

- - - - - -

For the next two weeks, Sanji had been acting much different than he normally had been. His work in the kitchen had been slower, he was acting very silently around all the other cooks while in the kitchen or on breaks, and for once, he was not fighting with Zeff after the man yelled at him for doing something wrong.

Fro the first week, the cooks shook off the thought of Sanji having something wrong with him. They all thought it was just a little phase he was going through because, well, they all went through phases when they were younger. But when it started heading towards the second week, then they definitely knew that something was wrong.

All the cooks tried talking to him like Sasuke used to, but it seemed that no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't communicate with him. It was like it was impossible to be able to speak with him…or make him smile. Even Zeff did his best to try and make the boy smile, but it didn't do any good. The boy just wouldn't smile.

Four days passed and now Sanji seemed completely devoted to all the work he had been doing in the kitchen. No matter how hard all the cooks tried to get him to stop all the constant working and take a break, he wouldn't stop. The little talking he originally did was now demoted down to a constant silence and it really started freaking the other cooks out.

The only one that wasn't freaked out was the head chef himself. He knew the reason for the little boy's weird behavior. He'd known about it since the beginning, but he hadn't done anything about it. And now with it being just a week before Christmas, Zeff realized that he really needed to do something. He walked into his room, picked up the snail-phone, and dialed a number he never thought he'd have to dial.

- - - - - -

Help had come for Sanji on Christmas Even, help he'd never thought he'd have while on the Baratie. While the restaurant was empty for some weird reason, a steamship docked right next to the Baratie. Five sets of footsteps walked off the ship and up to the front doors of the Baratie. A tall figure pushed open the door and the owners of the five sets of footsteps walked in.

Sanji looked up from the table he was currently scrubbing and literally dropped the washcloth he had in his hand, "S-sasuke?"

The tallest of the five smiled and looked around at the four others: a young woman, a boy his size, a small girl in a red dress, and an extremely small girl squeezing the girl in the red dress' hand.

Sasuke noticed that Sanji was staring at the woman, girls, and boy, so in introduced them as his brother and sisters. The woman was nineteen-year-old Varie, the boy was eleven-year-old Hayate, the red dress girl was seven-year-old Sakura, and the smallest was two-year-old Kiki. Sanji knew all about them because Sasuke used to talk so much about them.

"What are you doing here? I thought you moved back to Orange Village." Sanji asked Sasuke.

Sasuke nodded, "I did. But last week I got a call from the head chef asking me to come here for the holiday."

Sanji quickly turned towards Zeff, who was now standing in the doorway of the kitchen, "You did?" Zeff, who was not smiling, nodded. "Thanks." Sanji told the older man.

The man nodded and welcomed Sasuke back to the Baratie, even if it was for a short visit. Zeff and the rest of the cooks were introduced to Varie, Hayate, Sakura, and Kiki. Sasuke's brother and sisters smiled and said a joyful salutation, even though Kiki hid behind Hayate and Sakura while being introduced.

Sanji wasn't exactly sure what Zeff and the others cooks were planning on doing with Sasuke and his family being at the Baratie, but it must have been something big. Sakura, Hayate, Kiki, and Sanji were being kept out of the kitchen by both Sasuke and Varie. Both Sasuke and Varie must have known why they came because Hayate, Sakura, Sanji, and Kiki sure didn't.

- - - - - -

A few hours passed and still no customers came that day. Sasuke was still in the kitchen with the other cooks minus Sanji.

Sanji was talking and having a great time with Hayate and Sakura, who was pretty grown up for a seven-year-old. Varie was talking quietly with them while holding Kiki, who decided to take a nap in her oldest sister's arms.

Finally, the kitchen doors opened and all the cooks in the kitchen carried plates and plates of food to the largest table. Hayate and Sakura's eyes widened with surprise. They'd never seen so much food before. Sanji was surprised that the other cooks wouldn't allow him to help them cook all food they cooked.

Sasuke walked over to his baby sister and softly shook her. The small girl opened her eyes and sat up in Varie's lap.

"Time to eat." Sasuke announced with a grin on his face. Nobody moved. "Come on!" Sasuke urged the younger boys and girls. He lifted Kiki out of Varie's arms and placed her on a chair.

Varie led Sanji, Hayate, and Sakura to their chairs before both her and Sasuke took their seats. The rest of the cooks took their seats at the large table. Instantly, the entire room was filled with talking, laughing, and eating. In fact, in those few hours spent at the table, all of the people in that little room acted like one big family having a nice Christmas Eve dinner.

When everybody was done eating, Varie took Kiki up to the spare room made for Sasuke's family and put her to bed. Hayate and Sakura followed them. Only Sasuke and Sanji stayed downstairs to pack up all the untouched food and help scrub all the plates. As they scrubbed, Sanji heard a faint voice singing from the room above, the spare room.

The voice singing sounded like Mikoto before the Orbit broke up except much younger.

"She's got a great voice, huh?" Sasuke asked Sanji.

"Huh?" Sanji asked.

"Varie. She's got a nice voice, huh?" Sasuke asked.

"Like an angel." Sanji whispered.

Sasuke laughed, "That's what everyone back in Orange Village says, too."

Sanji nodded and kept scrubbing, imagining Mikoto singing Varie's songs from within the Baratie.

- - - - - -

All the cooks went to bed at 11pm, but Sanji was the only one that couldn't sleep. He quietly snuck by all the sleeping cooks and sat down at a table down in the restaurant.

"Couldn't sleep?" a voice from behind him asked. Sanji jumped and turned around to face Sasuke. He shook his head. Sasuke took a chair next to Sanji, "So, what's on your mind?"

"When are you going back to Orange Village?" Sanji asked.

"Varie, Hayate, Sakura, Kiki, and I will be going back the day after tomorrow." Sasuke answered.

Sanji frowned, "You're so lucky to have a family."

"Well, you do, too." Sasuke told him.

Sanji was confused, "What do you mean?"

"All the cooks here at the Baratie are your family." Sasuke answered.

Sanji shook his head, "No, they all hate me."

"They don't hate you. They're just getting used to you." Sasuke explained, "When I moved to Orange Village after my parents died, it was my job to watch over my brother and little sisters while Varie worked. I had to get used to watching over three kids at one time. The cooks here are your family and are just trying to get used to you."

"You understand now?" Sasuke asked.

Sanji thought for a moment and nodded his head, "Yeah, I guess so."

Sasuke smiled, "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now go to bed."

"Hey, what are you and the others planning on doing tomorrow?" Sanji asked.

Sasuke smirked, "That's a secret. Now get to bed." Sanji obeyed him.

- - - - - -

Morning came and all the cooks and Sasuke's family woke up and walked down to the restaurant. Varie placed Kiki in Hayate's arms and left for the ship outside. Sasuke went into the kitchen with the other cooks, blocking Hayate, Sakura, Sanji, and Kiki from entering. They wouldn't even give any clues to what they were doing.

Varie walked back inside carrying bags full of boxes and refused to let any of the four children touch them. Sasuke and the other cooks eventually walked out carrying more plates and plates of food. All of them placed the plates on the tables and motioned for Hayate, Sakura, Sanji, Kiki, and Varie to sit down. The five of them sat and the cooks joined them.

The meal lasted about an hour with even more talking and laughing than they did yesterday. Once the meal was finished, Varie handed out all the boxes in the bags. Inside all the boxes were toys, books, and clothes, Christmas presants for the four younger children from not only Sasuke and Varie, but from Zeff and the other cooks. From the corner of his eye, Sanji could see a smirk on the man's face. The cooks were smiling, too. Sanji placed a smile on his own face. _My family…_he said inside his head.

On that special Christmas Day all those years ago, Sanji had realized something important: even though all the other cooks were much much younger than him, they were just as scared of him as he was of them. And he learned that day that all the cooks truly were his family. And it was all thanks to Sasuke and the late night discussion.

- - - - - -

A/N: Okay, that was my latest chapter. I made up the thing about Sanji's parents and his life on the Orbit(because I don't know what really happened while he was on the Orbit). Oh, and I really could use ideas for my fanfics. If you have ANY ideas on what I should add in my stories, then do not hesitate to send me an e-mail or a review of ideas because I really could use ideas. R/R if you want, but don't flame me, please.

Next chapter: Tony Tony Chopper


	6. Chopper: The Accident That Made A Doctor

Ch.6- Chopper: The Accident That Made A Doctor

Disclaimer- I don't own One Piece unfortunately.

- - - - - -

Living on Drum Island was usually like being on a very long winter vacation. Snow was everywhere all the time even during the summer. The snow was beautiful, the air always smelled nice and clean, and the children always had snow to play with. The only bad thing about being there was having to deal with the very few doctors and King Wapol. But that wasn't the only thing they had to worry about.

One of the biggest troubles besides King Wapol was Dr. Hilruk, the unlicensed doctor who came into the towns to "heal" the island citizens with his partner, nine-year-old Tony Tony Chopper, the blue nosed reindeer. The man and his partner were necessarily bad, but they just made the townspeople scared and angry at them for not being able to cure them of their illnesses.

Chopper hated the townspeople not because they always chased both him and Dr. Hilruk out of town right after they finished working, but because the humans treated him so badly after he ate the Hito Hito Fruit. The only human he really _did_ trust was Dr. Hilruk himself. It wasn't his fault that he hated humans, it really wasn't and there was nobody on this island that would change what he hated.

It was now around the beginning of December and both Dr. Hilruk and Chopper had gone to a small town to cure a few kids that were really sick. The moment both Chopper and Dr. Hilruk stepped inside the little house, they knew that the first thing they had to do was get the sick kids that were crying their eyes out to stop crying.

The first task wasn't easy. There were three children laying in one huge bed, crying in unison at the pain in their heads that the fever was giving and at the pain in their throats that the coughing gave. The crying eventually stopped and Dr. Hilruk was able to examine them. Both parents of the children stood in the doorway of the room with nervous looks on their faces.

Dr. Hilruk and Chopper stayed in that house for five minutes before they were chased out by the father for making the children cry again this time worse than before, after giving them some medicine. As they ran, two figures from outside the house followed them quietly so they wouldn't be heard.

Dr. Hilruk and Chopper stopped in front of Dr. Hilruk's house and slowly turned around to see if anything had been following them. A shuffling sound came within some bushes about five or six feet away from them. A yellow color was sticking out of the bushes, a color not from the bushes. A conversation was going on between two:

"How long do you think they'll be standing there?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think they'll know we're here?"

"Shut up, Melis. You're going to get us caught."

"You shut up, Markis. You're talking just as loud as I am."

"Melis, I swear to God, if you don't shut up, I'm going to…"

"Who's out there?" Dr. Hilruk called out towards the bushes. The conversation quickly stopped, but the figures in the bushes refused to come out. "Come on, get out here!" Dr. Hilruk yelled towards the bushes. Slowly, two figures stepped out of the bushes, a boy and a girl with blonde hair.

"Who the Hell are you!" Chopper snapped.

The boy and girl jumped not because they were called out from their place so suddenly, but because a talking reindeer was speaking to them.

The braver of the two, the boy, decided to speak first, "I'm Markis."

"I'm Melis." The girl bowed her head.

"And what are you doing here?" Dr. Hilruk asked the two of them.

"We saw you running out of our house and…wanted to see where you lived." Markis answered. Dr. Hilruk and Chopper looked skeptically at him.

Melis punched his shoulder and whispered harshly into his ear, "That's the best excuse you could come up with!"

"Well, at least it's better than saying the true reason we followed them." Markis whispered back.

"Still, you could have picked a better excuse." Melis whispered back.

"Well, you found our house. Now go home." Dr. Hilruk interrupted Melis and Markis. The two didn't move. Chopper sighed and turned to his human form. He took a few quick steps towards them.

Melis and Markis screamed and ran down the snowy forest and to their own home. Chopper returned to his normal form. Dr. Hilruk let out a deep laugh and opened the door to his house. He walked inside. Chopper followed him. Once the door closed, both Dr. Hilruk and Chopper laughed uncontrollably about Melis and Markis.

"Do you think they'll come back?" Chopper asked.

"Nah." Dr. Hilruk answered.

- - - - - -

Melis and Markis ran screaming towards their home, but immediately stopped when they saw an elderly lady they knew too well enter their house.

"Oh no. It's the witch." Melis whispered frantically. Markis nodded. He was also afraid of the witch known as Dr. Kureha, and of all the money she'd take from their family when she finished curing their brothers and sister.

Both of them quickly walked into the house and away from the eyesight of the witch. In only a few seconds, the screaming and crying stopped and within minutes, the witch's voice echoed through the halls, "That'll be 99 of your earnings." Markis and Melis groaned. More money was gone from their already poor family. The witch didn't even reconsider when she ran into both Markis and Melis.

- - - - - -

As much as Dr. Hilruk and Chopper wished for Melis and Markis not to come back, the two children did come back the very next day. They were hiding underneath the windows of the small house, occasionally looking through the windows and hiding their heads when one of the two in the house looked up. Of course, both Dr. Hilruk and Chopper knew that Markis and Melis were there even if they couldn't see them.

Markis and Melis were determined not to be scared away by Chopper this time. They were fascinated by the medicine experiments Dr. Hilruk and Chopper were performing and just couldn't leave. But, as strong as their determination was, the two were chased out of the forest by Chopper again.

- - - - - -

Melis and Markis kept coming back to Dr. Hilruk's house for nearly two weeks and kept making up excuses on why they kept coming up. At the end of the second week, Dr. Hilruk was growing tired of all the excuses and both Markis and Melis coming to the house through the forest.

The last day of the second week, Dr. Hilruk practically dragged both Markis and Melis into his house and demanded to know the truth of why both of them kept coming up to his house everyday.

At first none of the two would answer, but after seeing a pissed off Chopper, Markis decided to answer, "We want to train under you to become doctors."

Dr. Hilruk didn't believe him so he made a weird look at Markis' sister. Melis nodded.

"How old are you two?" Chopper asked. Markis and Melis didn't freak out this time.

"Eighteen." Markis answered proudly. Dr. Hilruk and Chopper stared at him.

"Fifteen." Melis told them. Now she was the one being stared at.

"We're thirteen." Markis said. The room was silent.

"Fine, we're ten!" Melis shouted.

"Come on, tell us the truth." Dr. Hilruk sighed.

"Six." Markis and Melis admitted.

Dr. Hilruk shook his head, "You're too young to be training under me. Go home to your family."

"Forget it! I don't want to go back!" Melis shouted.

"Me neither!" Markis agreed.

"Why not?" Dr. Hilruk asked.

"There are five kids in our family and all the attention goes to our brothers and sister. Our parents are always worrying about them and not about us." Markis admitted.

"Weren't they just sick?" Chopper asked.

"Well, yeah. But even before then our parents would use all their attention on them." Melis explained.

"And why do you want to become doctors?" Dr. Hilruk asked.

"We want to heal people and be able to do it without our brothers and sister being with us and taking all the credit for something we did right." Markis explained.

"And why do you want to train under me?" Dr. Hilruk asked.

It took a while for Melis and Markis to answer the question because they were embarrassed, but Markis finally gave in, "We're afraid of the witch and you were the only one that came to our house besides the witch."

Dr. Hilruk laughed, "Afraid of the witch? That's a good one."

"Plus, with you, anybody can have the chance of being doctors. Even your reindeer friend." Melis piped up, pointing at Chopper.

Chopper froze. _Is she telling the truth? Can I really become a doctor? Do I really have a chance?_ Chopper wondered.

Dr. Hilruk put a hand under his chin and looked like he was thinking, "Come back tomorrow and I'll give you my answer. Just give me a day to think about you training under me." Melis and Markis nodded and ran to their home.

Once they left, Chopper looked up at Dr. Hilruk, "Do I have the chance to become a good doctor? Do I really?"

Dr. Hilruk smiled larger than he ever had before, "You do. You have the chance to become one of the greatest doctors in all the blues."

"Are you going to let those two train under you?" Chopper asked.

Dr. Hilruk shook his head, "No, and I'll let them know that when they come up here tomorrow." He believed what he said was true, but never believed that an accident involving Markis and Melis would happen that day.

- - - - - -

Markis and Melis walked up the snowy fields the next day, leaving their brothers and sister, who were now completely recovered, at home. Both Markis and Melis ran through the forest as fast as they could. They were right at the halfway point between their house and Dr. Hilruk's house when the accident happened.

An earthquake rocked the ground and shook off a heavy blanket of snow.

"An avalanche!" Melis screamed.

"Let's get home! We can come back later!" Markis screamed back. He grabbed Melis' hand and started to run home, but the snow was falling too fast. The snow quickly covered both Markis and Melis and kept going.

- - - - - -

Hours later, Dr. Hilruk suggested to Chopper that they go towards the town Melis and Markis lived in. The two walked a short distance before Chopper's hoof hit something hidden in the snow. He quickly removed some of the snow until he saw the blonde, spiky hair of Markis. Dr. Hilruk quickly helped him remove the snow off of Markis and his sister.

Without saying anything, both Dr. Hilruk and Chopper examined Markis and Melis to check if they were still alive and breathing. They were alive and breathing, but they were also freezing. Quickly, Dr. Hilruk picked up both kids and started running towards his house with Chopper following him. They were at the house in less than a minute.

"Chopper, remember how the girl said that you could have a chance to become a great doctor?" Dr. Hilruk asked, placing the brother and sister on a bed. Chopper nodded.

"Well, this is your chance." Dr. Hilruk told him. Chopper nodded again and immediately started gathering blankets to put around Markis and Melis.

Markis and Melis were warmed up within a few hours although they hadn't woken from their unconscious state. Chopper had noticed something else wrong with them: fevers were burning their heads. Before deciding whether to give them medicine or not, he placed cloths on their heads. The two slept the whole night.

- - - - - -

The next day, Melis and Markis were only awake for a few hours. Their fevers ached and made them feel weak, but at least they weren't in extreme danger. Chopper was usually the one taking care of them as the two lay in bed, moaning in pain. Dr. Hilruk was considering on experimenting with medicines on Markis and Melis, but Chopper stopped them, explaining that they were just children and shouldn't have to die so young if something went wrong.

For the next few days, the fevers still confined Melis and Markis to the beds they were in. Chopper was busy treating them while the townspeople were searching all the grounds in Drum Island to find Markis and Melis. Unfortunately for them, the two children had not been found by them.

On Christmas Eve, the fevers of Markis and Melis were gone and the two were well enough to walk a few feet before having to rest. And, since it was Chopper's birthday, neither Dr. Hilruk or Chopper wanted to take Markis and Melis home but the two of them were not well enough to walk home by themselves so they had to stay at Dr. Hilruk's house for the night.

- - - - - -

At midnight, Chopper and Dr. Hilruk got out a sled from behind the house. They placed both Markis and Melis on the sled and pulled it to the entrance of the town, a short distance away from Markis and Melis' father.

"We'll pick up the sled at your house in a few days." Dr. Hilruk told them.

Markis and Melis nodded. "Thank you for saving us." Markis said to them.

"Oh, and Chopper? You will be a great doctor even if you aren't a human." Melis told Chopper. Chopper nodded and grew into the human form. He gave the sled a hard push.

"Merry Christmas!" Markis and Melis called back before stopping in front of their father. The man cried out in joy, collected his children in his arms, and pulled them home in the sled as they told them what happened to them the day of the avalanche.

Chopper and Dr. Hilruk watched Markis, Melis, and their father walk home until they were completely out of their sight. Then they started walking home. At their home, they got rid of all the smells of sickness in the house left form Markis and Melis when they stayed.

On that early Christmas morning, Chopper thought back at what Melis said about him being able to become a great doctor and about Dr. Hilruk agreeing with her and learned a special lesson. He learned that he would be able to become a doctor no matter what his species was. And that was the most important lesson for him.

- - - - - -

A/N: Okay, that was my sixth chapter. Sorry if it didn't make much sense, but I don't know very much about Chopper's life, so I made something up. Markis and Melis are my own characters, but if anyone wants to use them, they can feel free to use them. Sorry, if you didn't like this chapter very much, but I'm in a mega huge hurry to finish up all the chapters I need to do before Christmas. R/R if you want, but if you hate it don't flame me and send me your ideas if you have them because I really will need them with the next chapter or so.

Next chapter: Nico Robin


	7. Robin: Friendship Never Dies

Ch.7-Robin: Friendship Never Dies

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I might if I get it for Christmas(yeah, right. Like THAT'S going to happen).

A/N: Okay, before I start this chapter, I have to admit that this one was the hardest chapter to do. I looked on multiple One Piece sites to find some more information about Robin's past except for the obvious things(her destroying the ships when she was 8) for hours, but couldn't find anything else. So, most of the things in this chapter I had to make up( for instance I called her father "Nico Robert").

- - - - - -

"Oh my God! It's her!" a small boy screamed, pointing at a little eight-year-old girl that had walked into town.

"Don't worry. I won't let her hurt you." the boy's mother said a bit loudly as the girl walked by.

The girl, known as Nico Robin, didn't stop to look at them nor did she cry. There wasn't really any point of crying.

She knew that she ate the Hana Hana Fruit and destroyed those Marine ships, but that was an accident. She remembered her father telling her that accidents happened, but what he didn't tell her was that there were some accidents that could not be fixed or ignored. And because of the accident she caused, the townspeople hated her.

The little girls in the town that once were her friends now weren't. Before she ate the fruit, the mothers of Robin's friends used to walk up to Robin's father and say, "Nico Robert, your daughter is so sweet and kind-hearted and I'm happy she and my daughter are friends." But now they said, "Nico Robert, your daughter is dangerous and evil and I don't want her anywhere near my daughter." And that really hurt her.

But what really hurt her was Robin's relationship with Hayakawa Seira. Seira used to be the best friend Robin ever had. The two girls had been best friends since they had been little babies and never ever fought. But ever since the accident, Seira's parents had forbidden Seira to be friends with Robin or even to speak to her. They were no longer friends.

For the first few weeks after Robin found out that she was wanted, the poor girl cried herself to sleep each and every night.

Her father, the proud archeologist, did his best during both the day and night to calm his little daughter down, but he usually wasn't successful. The pain in her heart was just too great.

The townspeople had gone up to him, wanting to get rid of Robin permanently by execution, but he refused.

Robin never understood why the townspeople didn't' turn her into the government. The government didn't know where her house was, but the townspeople did and they never tried to capture her when she walked into town. All they did was hide from her or shoot out nasty comments about her.

Robin walked throughout the town, ignoring the people staring at her. She walked passed Seira's house. Seira was sitting on the front porch sewing something. Robin wanted to wave to Seira and call out a cheerful "hello" to the girl, but Seira's father was also on the porch giving Robin a look that clearly said, "Don't' even think about talking to my daughter." So she kept walking.

Robin walked into the grocery store near Seira's house. The store was full of customers and all of them ignored her and immediately stopped chatting with one another. The customers even filed out of the store quickly to be away from Robin. Robin grabbed what she wanted to buy and walked up to the counter.

The clerk gave her a sweet smile and said politely, "Okay, Robin-chan, let's see…one small sack of potatoes…and that comes up to 25 berries." Robin placed 25 berries in the clerk's hands and picked up the sack of potatoes. "Sayonara, Robin-chan." The clerk called as Robin left for the door.

"Sayonara." Robin called, walking out the shop's door.

The clerk of the grocery store and his wife, who also worked there, were one of the few people who did not think of Robin as dangerous. The clerk was good friend with Robert and the clerk's wife was best friends with Robin's mother when she was still alive. Both the clerk and his wife knew a lot about Robin and refused to believe that she destroyed those ships on purpose.

Robin walked passed Seira's house again.

Seira was alone and still sewing, but she looked so sad and lonely. She looked up at Robin with tears in her eyes. Robin, using her free hand, waved at Seira. Seira quickly turned her head and didn't wave back. Robin frowned and sadly walked home.

- - - - - -

"Robin? What's wrong?" Robert asked his little daughter at dinnertime.

Robin looked up from her hardly touched plate of meat and mashed potatoes, "I saw Seira today, Father."

Robert nodded, "Well, how is she doing?"

"She wouldn't talk to me. All she did was cry and turn her head away from me." Robin answered with a frown.

"Well, of course she was crying." Robert told his daughter.

"Huh? What do you mean, Father?" Robin asked him.

"Seira lost her best friend so quickly. I'm sure she feels just as much pain as you do." Robert told her.

Robin softly shook her head, "No she doesn't."

"Yes she does. Being forced to forget a best friend in one of the most painful feelings in the world." Robert told her.

Robin let out a small smile, "Okay, Father."

Robert patted her small head, "Good. Now eat." Robin nodded and started eating.

- - - - - -

A few days later, on the 15th of December, Robin took a walk through town. As she passed Seira's house, she had noticed that her former best friend was not out on the front porch like she had been a few days ago. She wanted to talk to Seira so badly, but deep inside she knew she couldn't.

- - - - - -

Later that day, Robin was standing by the old well near her house. The well was where Seira and Robin used to meet up when they wanted to play. Robin had a feeling that there was some history behind the old well, something big, but everyone else didn't think so. The only people that really believed her theory was Seira and Robin's father.

Robin dropped a pail into the well and started to pull it up, but the pail got caught on something in the well. Robin looked down and saw something sticking out of the wall. With her powers, she had extra hands come out of the well's walls and pull out the thing in the wall. Her extra hands carried the item and the pail up the well and place them on the ground outside the well.

Robin picked up the item, a very old and damp box. Quickly, she ran to the house, leaving the pail at the well. "Father! Father!" she screamed.

Her father quickly ran outside, "What is it? What's wrong?" Robin held up the box she found in the well. Robert took the box and looked over it, "Where did you find this?"

"The well." Robin answered.

Robert knelt down to his daughter's height and opened up the box. Inside the box laid two stones: one white and one light blue, with a chain around each stone, making a necklace.

"Ohhh…" Robin gasped, moving a hand near the stones, "Father, what are these?"

Robert looked hard at them, "Looks like a diamond and an aquamarine." Robin placed her hands on the stones and all of a sudden, a vision filled her head.

- - -VISION- - -

Two girls were standing by the well wearing the stones. A blue haired girl was wearing the aquamarine. A black haired girl was wearing the diamond. Both girls were crying.

"Mother and Father say that I'm not allowed to be friends with you anymore." The blue haired girl sobbed.

"Why not?" the black haired girl asked.

"They don't want me playing with someone whose family's opinion is different from the town's and…they are making me get rid of my aquamarine." The blue haired girl cried.

"What are they going to do with it?" the black haired girl asked.

"They want to sell it." The blue haired girl answered.

"No! They can't do that! That'd be like selling our friendship!" the black haired girl cried.

"Then, what are we going to do?" the blue haired girl asked.

The black haired girl thought for a moment then ran to a house near the well. When she came back, she was carrying a wooden box. The girl opened the box, took off the diamond, and placed it in the box.

"Put your aquamarine in here. We'll hide the box in a place that nobody else will look in." the black haired girl said.

The blue haired girl placed her aquamarine in the box and closed it, "Where do we hide it?"

"The inside of the well." Her friend answered, "I'll stand in the bucket while you lower me down into the well. I'll hide it in the wall and when I say to, pull me back up." The blue haired girl nodded.

The black haired girl stepped into the bucket while her friend dropped the rope. She stopped when the black haired girl was halfway down. The girl placed the box in an empty hole then called out, "Pull me up!" The blue haired girl pulled her up. The black haired girl stepped out of the bucket and stood before her best friend. With one last cry, the girls hugged and said, "Best friends forever." The blue haired girl ran off.

- - -END VISION- - -

"These stones…they were a token of friendship…" Robin said, removing her hand from the stones.

"Yeah, probably." Robert said. He closed the box and handed it to his daughter, "This is yours. You found it, so you should keep it. Just be careful with what you do with it."

"Thank you, Father." Robin whispered. She dropped the box off into her room and ran back to the well to get the pail.

- - - - - -

A figure ran up to the Nico's house nine days later at about 7am. The figure slipped a folded piece of paper under the door then ran away. Robin and her father had been up at the time and saw the paper slide under the door, but no the figure. Robin lifted up the paper and read the back.

Written in childish letters was the word, "Robin-chan." Robin opened up the paper and looked deeply at the inside. There were no words, but a drawn picture of the well, a sun, Robin's house, a Christmas tree, and two girls: Robin and Seira. Robin knew the message. She understood all of the drawn messages that Seira sent. She was so artistic that it'd be impossible NOT to understand the message.

Her father looked over her shoulder and stared at the beautifully drawn picture and got the message even if it didn't include him at all.

"Father? Do you think it's possible for me to have any friends at all now that I'm dangerous?" Robin asked her father.

Robert smiled at her, "Absolutely. Friendship never dies."

Robin was put to bed early that night, on Christmas Eve. She really didn't see the point of being in bed that night so early. Even though it was Christmas Eve, she didn't expect herself to be getting a lot of presants since it was just Robin and her father, but she obeyed her father and went to bed whispering over and over again, "Friendship never dies."

- - - - - -

The next morning was Christmas morning. Like she had expected, Robin didn't get very many presants, but it didn't matter. She had something else more important she was going to be doing. Before she left the house, she slipped the diamond around her neck and held the aquamarine in her left hand. Her father placed a small cake in her right. "This tastes better when eaten with a good friend." He told her. Robin nodded and left.

Seira came to the well just a minute after Robin did. Over Seira's shoulder was a baby blue purse. She handed Robin a white one, the thing she had been sewing days before. On the back, in sewn baby blue letters was "NICO ROBIN AND HAYAKAWA SEIRA. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER" Seira's purse had those same words, but written in white thread.

Robin gave Seira a deep hug and handed her the aquamarine.

Seira's eyes widened ask Robin slipped the aquamarine over her neck. The beautiful stone matched her lovely hair. The presants didn't stop there. Seira placed a rolled up piece of canvas in Robin's hands. Robin unrolled the canvas and stared at it in shock.

Seira had painted a picture that was originally taken before Robin ate the Devil Fruit. The picture had both girls sitting in front of the old well. The two of them had large smiles on their faces. Robin was missing a tooth.

"This was taken last summer after we beat the boys in a huge game of hide-and-seek." Robin laughed. Seira laughed, too.

Once the laughing stopped, Robin held up the cake, "Father says it tastes better when eaten with a good friend." Seira nodded. Both girls split the cake in half and ate their parts. The cake was just a simple pound cake, but Robert was right. It did taste better when eaten with a good friend.

Robin stuck her hand in her purse after she ate and pulled out a piece of paper with a poem and a note written on it:

_**The two of us are true best friends  
**__**We love to scream and shout.  
**__**And although the things we like are different  
**__**We always work them out.**_

_**The two of us tell secrets  
**__**And giggle like friends do.  
**__**Which really proves to us two that  
**__**The friendship we have is true.**_

_**One day life will be real cruel  
**__**And split us both apart.  
**__**But you'll always be my very best friend  
**__**Deep inside my heart.**_

_Nico Robin, you are the best friend I've ever had. Merry Christmas._

_-Hayakawa Seira_

Robin looked at her best friend, "Seira…"

"Mama and Papa said that we will never be friends again…" Seira cried.

Robin shook her head, "We'll always be best friends. Father says that friendship never dies. So, best friends forever?"

Seira smiled, "Best friends forever." Both girls giggled and hugged each other.

"I should go. Mama and Papa are probably looking for me." Seira said as the two friends let go.

"I'll miss you." Robin said.

"Me too." Seira answered. Seira started walking towards the town. She stopped, turned around, waved, and called, "Merry Christmas Nico-san, Robin-chan! Sayonara!"

"Merry Christmas, Seira-chan! Sayonara!" Both Robin and her father, who was now next to his daughter, called. Robin kept waving until Seira was completely out of sight.

"Robin, that little girl over there is one of the best friends you'll ever have. Your friendship will keep going even after you two stop talking to each other." Robert told his daughter.

"Really, Father?" Robin asked.

Her father nodded and patted her small head, "Absolutely."

Robin smiled. She had a feeling he was right.

Robin went to sleep later on that night with the diamond inside the box and Seira's picture on the wall and, for some reason, she was very happy she ate the Hana Hana Fruit because without it, both Robin and Seira would never have learned that friendship never dies.

- - - - - -

A/N: Okay, that's what I got. Like I said before, I don't know much about Robin's past, so I had to make some of the stuff up. Oh, and Seira's poem is actually a poem that I made up(I know it probably sucks, but I'm not a very good poet).

Okay, a little bit of info on the next chapter: it will be sort of a bonus chapter. Chapter 8 has to do with a Christmas lesson of Emily, the main character in my story _The Melody of the Seas_ (for those who HAVEN'T read the story. Emily is a slave bought by Zoro and becomes the Straw Hat Pirate's new musician).

Next chapter: Emily


	8. Emily: The Christmas I Couldn't Have

Ch.8- Emily: The Christmas I Couldn't Have

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I DO own the characters in this chapter

A/N: Okay, this is a bonus chapter about the main character in my story _The Melody of the Seas_. Emily is a slave girl that is bought by Zoro and becomes the Straw Hat Pirates' new musician. This chapter takes place BEFORE she's bought and stars her and her sister. This is a tiny little bio about them:

**Emily: Her family was murdered when she was a month old, a pirate brought her to an orphanage, where she learned how to read, write, and talk before she was even two. She was adopted into slavery when she was three. When she was six, she was in a traveling circus, where she learned to play the flute. The circus dropped her off at a friend's house when she was nine because the circus was making less money and she was starving. She lived with the friend for seven months before the friend died and was brought right back into slavery.**

**Misao: She is Emily's sister. The two are not actually related at all. Misao's family was born into slavery. Her mother and twin died when she was two. Misao met Emily when she was three and the two became such good friends that they called each other sisters. Misao's father died when she was only three. She was separated from Emily after Emily went with the traveling circus. She was freed and adopted by the circus' friend for two years. She and Emily met again when both of them were nine. Both her and Emily were brought back to slavery after the friend died.**

And now…on with the story…

- - - - - -

It was once believed that when it was wintertime, there was always snow, especially in December. Unfortunately, that wasn't what was happening at the Peterson house in the city of Anacohtes. There was no snow, even though there was cold. Of course, for the nine-year-old slave, Emily and her sister Misao, this was not the worst feeling they have felt. Losing loved ones to death was the worst and both girls felt it.

Since it was December, the Peterson family was going to have a large Christmas Party on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, not to mention the large Peterson family coming to visit around the middle of December and staying until the day after Christmas. It happened every year even though neither of the girls had been at the Peterson house for more than a few months.

This place they recently worked at wasn't not the worst one the girls had been to, but it also wasn't the best one either. The work at this house was light for both girls and although they were punished at times, it was only by slaps, kicks, and screams, not whips. The only that was extremely annoying were the two Peterson children: Marisa and Corey.

Marisa (aged eight) and Corey (aged four) were not necessarily bad children, although they never wanted to stop bothering Emily and Misao from their work, which both girls got punished for. And now, it being December, there was so much more work to be done. Both Emily and Misao had many different floors to scrub.

They dipped their hands in the hot, soapy water, dug out the sponges, and started to scrub at the partially filthy floor. The Master's wife was watching them and for once, did not look displeased. The girls scrubbed in silence for fear that she'd scream at them and beat them. She watched them for fifteen minutes before she left for the kitchen. Now Emily and Misao were free to talk.

"Do you think that the people coming over are going to buy and separate us?" Misao asked fearfully.

Emily shook her head, "It's not a slave trade. In Anacohtes, it's illegal to sell slaves if they aren't in a slave trade."

"How do you know that?" Misao asked.

Emily shrugged, "I heard the older slaves talking about it."

Misao believed her. Emily and Misao were the youngest of the six slaves at the Peterson house. The oldest was forty-nine while the youngest (besides Emily and Misao) was sixteen and none of the other slaves would lie about something as important as that. Besides, there'd be no reason for the Peterson family to get rid of the few loyal slaves they had.

Emily and Misao were almost completely done with the floor they were scrubbing when the house began to shake. Two people, Marisa and Corey, ran up the stairs onto the second floor with dirty clothes and muddy shoes.

"I'm going to get you, you little…" Marisa screamed, chasing after her brother.

"Little Miss, Young Master…please don't come up here." Misao said. The two ignored her and started running down the halls.

Emily attempted to grab their shoulders, but stopped, remembering one of the rules from their father: Don't touch the children without their father's permission. All Emily and Misao could do was watch Marisa and Corey running through the halls, trailing dirt and mud.

"What's going on up here?" a voice screamed. Marisa and Corey stopped and looked at their mother. "You two are filthy. Go change your clothes. Aunt Martha and Uncle Harry will be here soon." The woman told her children.

"Okay, Mama." Marisa and Corey chirped, running off to their rooms.

The woman turned to Emily and Misao, "You two! Get started on this floor! Some of our guests will be arriving soon!"

"Yes, Miss Kate." The girls chorused, getting to their work. The woman nodded and walked into Marisa's room. Emily and Misao shuttered, Miss Kate, the wife of the house owner, was the scariest part of working at the Peterson house.

Emily and Misao finished their work an hour later. Right when they finished, the sound of a cart stopping came from outside the house. The girls looked down the stairs and saw a very thin and well dressed woman, a well dressed man, and a little boy Corey's age standing in the doorway, hugging Master Peterson (the house owner), Miss Kate, Marisa, and Corey.

Emily and Misao didn't say anything or go downstairs. Instead, they took a break and sat down on the stairs to take a break.

Minutes later, sixteen-year-old Ryu walked up to them, "Master Peterson wants all his slaves to meet up in the parlor." Emily and Misao nodded and followed Ryu down to the parlor.

The other slaves were already there. Ryu, Emily, and Misao stood next to the other slaves and in front of the Peterson family. Aside from the well dressed man, woman, and little boy that came a few minutes ago, there was a different family: another well dressed man and woman, a boy and girl around Corey's age, and an older girl Marisa's age.

After being introduced and looked over by the guests, the slaves were dismissed to the kitchens or wherever else they worked.

Emily and Misao were sent to Master Peterson's study to dust. That was Emily's favorite place to be. Misao's too. When the girls were there, Emily could teach Misao to get better at reading and Emily could practice also.

Unfortunately for them, the door opened and Corey and his cousins Cody, Nina, and Mike came in before the girls could read and they weren't going to leave.

"What's your name?" Cody asked Emily.

"Emily." Emily answered, not taking her eyes off the books she was dusting.

"What's your last name?" Mike asked her.

"I don't know." Emily answered truthfully.

Nina wrinkled her nose, "You don't have a last name?" Emily shrugged and kept dusting. Nina turned to Misao, "What's your name?"

"Misao." Misao answered.

"What's your last name?" Cody asked her.

Misao knew her last name, but didn't want to reveal it to anyone. "I don't know." Misao answered. Nina, Cody, Corey, and Mike laughed at them.

Corey grabbed a book off the shelves and opened it up, "Read this for me."

Both Emily and Misao could red it and before Emily could read it out loud, Misao quickly answered, "We can't read it. Slaves aren't supposed to know how to read."

The four other children laughed at them. The girls felt humiliated not just because they were being laughed at, but because of the truth: they weren't supposed to read and write.

- - - - - -

By dinnertime, Emily and Misao had earned the last name "Baka" by the other children because to them, slaves were stupid. All the adults allowed the children to call Emily and Misao "Baka Emily" and "Baka Misao".

The girls hated their given names, but nobody really cared. They were slaves and were not allowed to express who or what they hated.

As the guests ate their food, Emily, Misao, and Ryu stood against the wall, still as statues, only moving to refill plates and cups. All the children were laughing and talking about Christmas. All the things they talked about were gifts, celebrations, and special Christmas people they've never even heard of.

"Boy! Gimme a refill!" one of the men shouted, holding up his empty wine glass. Ryu walked up to the wine glass and started pouring wine inside.

Cody held up his empty glass and shouted, "Baka sisters! I wanna refill!" Emily and Misao walked up to him and filled up his glass of water.

The Christmas conversation went on and on for hours, making Misao homesick and Emily confused. Misao knew about Christmas from the few years she had when she was freed, but Emily didn't. Work and traveling prevented her from celebrating the holiday. Of course, it really didn't matter. Slaves weren't allowed to celebrate the holiday.

- - - - - -

When dinner was over and all the chores finished, the slaves were sent to their rooms for the night. The slaves were very similar to most of the rooms at the other places they worked at: a very small one room house the size of the Peterson's parlor, split into two rooms by a sliding paper door. The girls slept on one side, the men on the other.

Before they went to bed, Emily played a little tune on her flute, a suggested tune. Tonight's son was a slow and sweet song that put everybody but Misao and Emily to sleep. Emily put her flute away and laid down in the bed she shared with her sister.

"Hey, Misao?" Emily asked her older sister.

"Yeah?" Misao asked.

"What's Christmas?" Emily asked.

Misao looked at her sister, "Didn't you celebrate the holiday when you were in the circus?" Emily shook her head. "What about the orphanage?" Misao asked.

Emily shook her head, "We were too poor to really celebrate anything."

Misao was surprised. Her younger and more intelligent sister didn't even know what Christmas was.

"Well, Christmas is a holiday that comes once a year. The holiday is supposed to be for friends and family to be together, celebrate, and hand out gifts to each other. I don't think slaves are allowed to celebrate the holiday." Misao explained.

"How come?" Emily asked.

Misao gave out a little shrug, "I don't know."

Before Emily could ask another question, Calle, the thirty-three-year-old woman that shared a room with Emily and Misao, woke up. "Hey, you two! Shut up and go to sleep! We got work tomorrow!" she shouted. The younger girls obeyed her.

- - - - - -

In the next week and a half, more guests had come to the Peterson house. There were so many adults and children coming that all six slaves couldn't keep track of who was who. All the children made fun of Emily and Misao's last names. The talk of Christmas was constantly being talked about and sure enough, Misao was right about everything, especially the part about slaves not being able to celebrate it. But, that didn't mean that both girls couldn't try to celebrate it.

Emily and Misao knew it was risky to even try to celebrate, but they were known to be slave risk takers, especially Emily, even though they usually failed when they took risks. They had their celebration all planned out: on the day of the big Christmas Eve party, sneak into the kitchen, steal all the food they could and bring it back to their room without getting caught then hide it carefully from everyone else.

The plan was absolutely perfect, but also very risky. Both girls knew the risk. They knew that stealing would lead them to punishments. They've never done it before, but they saw others slaves from other plantations do it and get seriously punished. But there was an up side to the plan. The party was supposed to be huge and they could easily be hidden in the crowd.

- - - - - -

The Christmas Eve party was really huge. So many friends and family members of the Peterson family were joined together in the large house. Emily, Misao, and the other slaves were working almost constantly, moving food to the rooms and plates to the kitchen to be refilled. Calle and two male slaves were not taking their eyes off all the stoves that had food cooking on them.

With two towels from the linen closet, Emily and Misao snuck into the kitchen and started placing sweets in them.

"What are you doing?" Forty-nine-year-old Ichigo asked the much younger girls. The girls didn't answer him.

"You're going to steal food, aren't you?" Twenty-four-year-old Spike asked. The girls blushed.

"Forget it! I won't have any of us getting punished! Now take these out to the living room." Ichigo demanded, putting a large plate of Deviled Eggs in their hands.

Emily and Misao walked to the party, carefully balancing the large plate in their hands. There were so many people laughing and snatching eggs off the plate as they walked that they hardly made it to the tables. Once they placed the plate on the table, the girls went back to the kitchen. They could hardly believe what they saw.

The towels were now completely filled and tied up.

Spike handed the towels to the younger girls. "Hide these in your room." Spike told them with a smirk on his face.

The girls smiled and walked out of the kitchen, carefully hiding the bags in between each other to avoid having them being seen. They never got the chance to bring the bags to their room.

One of the guests spiked the eggnog and the other beverages on the tables. The party was soon becoming out of control with intoxicated men, drunken women and children, and passed out guests.

One of the men was so intoxicated that he mistook one of Misao's buns as food and attempted to pull them off her head. Misao cried out in pain and struggled to remove her hair from his hands.

"Let go of her!" Emily shouted. Without thinking, she hit the man with her bag.

The man let go of Misao's hair, but the bag opened up and the messy treats flew across the room and hit the guests. The guests grabbed foods off the tables and threw them at the others. Food was flying everywhere. Misao dropped her bag and ran with Emily back to the kitchen before any of the food got them.

"What's wrong?" Calle asked the freaked out girls.

"Stop cooking! Everyone is drunk and having a food fight!" Emily cried.

"Oh, I gotta see this." Spike shouted, running to the door and opening it a little. He let out a laugh. Ryu, Calle, and Ichigo took a look and also laughed. Not one person in that room was sober.

"You two better not go back out there." Ichigo told Emily and Misao, "They aren't going to be okay until at least tomorrow morning." Emily and Misao nodded. They sat down at the tables in the kitchen, eating a few of the sweets being cooked and laughing until both girls fell asleep.

- - - - - -

At 6am, all the guests were passed out and asleep. Emily and Misao woke up in the kitchen to the smell of coffee being brewed.

"Good morning, girls." Calle said, smiling at the little girls.

"Have we slept out here all night?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. You'd be surprised how much of heavy sleepers you two are." Spike told her.

Misao quickly jumped up and grabbed Emily's hand. Misao dragged Emily back to their room. The second they got there, both girls dug into their bags that held their belongings. Each girl pulled out a teddy bear belonging to both of them: Emily's being white with multi-colored firework sparks that she got from the circus, Misao's being teal with red music notes that she got from the woman that freed and adopted her.

Emily and Misao exchanged their bears. "Merry Christmas, Sis." Misao told Emily.

"Merry Christmas, Sis." Emily said back. Both girls gave each other a hug. Emily grabbed her flute and followed Misao to the kitchen. By the time they got there, food was all over the table and sheets of Christmas music stolen by Ryu from the parlor was on the counter.

Before everyone ate, Emily took a look at the music sheets and played the songs, all unfamiliar to her. The songs were soon over and all six of the slaves sat at the small table and began to eat their food.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." Ichigo said to the other slaves.

Spike held up his mug of coffee, "To Christmas."

The others lifted their mugs and chanted, "To Christmas!" They tapped the mugs against each other's and took a sip.

As Emily ate the breakfast she was made with Ichigo, Calle, Spike, Ryu, and Misao, she thought about how she was always told by both the Master and the other slaves that they couldn't celebrate Christmas and she believed it at first. But thanks to the party that went wrong, she learned that even slaves could celebrate Christmas.

- - - - - -

A/N: Well, that was the final chapter of Christmas Memories. I hope y'all liked this story. If you want to know more information about Emily and Misao then read _The Melody of the Seas_. R/R if you want, but don't flame me. It's Christmastime.


End file.
